Pentatonix - Summer at the Beach
by butterflyeleven11
Summary: Pentatonix is spending the summer at the beach! Kirstie is crushing big time on Avi! Does he like her too? Hope you enjoy this story!
1. Chapter 1

_**(A/N): I enjoyed writing my other Pentatonix story, so here's another one. It will be different than the other story I wrote. I am going to attempt to write this story from POV's as I have seen many other stories that I have enjoyed reading. Thank you as always for your reads and comments! Enjoy the story – please know; this is just a story – complete fiction… ;)**_

**(Kirstie's POV)**  
I can't believe it, finally move in day. The whole group got a house for the summer while we were taking a couple of months off after our year world tour. We are staying on the beach in California and everyone had a huge room with their very own bathroom. That's a huge plus being the only girl in this group. The house was fully furnished and the kitchen was fully stocked. We are given cars as well. The house even comes with a small recording studio so that we can work on our next album. Yes, we are definitely living the high life for the summer. This summer is going to be amazing. Two months where we can just chill and relax and not have to stay in hotels. We all arrive and we start to pile everything onto the walkway.  
"Oh my gosh! Guys, this is amazing!" I exclaimed.  
"Wait until you see the inside, Kirstie!" Mitch said grabbing my hand and running to the front door.  
Mitch and I walk in and the house completely takes our breath away. We then stop and stare at one another smiling. We are thinking the same thing, rooms!  
"I'm going to claim my room first!" Mitch yelled as he ran off down the hall.  
I laugh and look around and see that there is a huge living room with a wall of windows looking out towards the beach. To the left of the living room are the kitchen and three bedrooms. To the right are more bedrooms. There is a door that leads to the basement where the recording studio is. I look up and there is a very inviting loft overlooking the living room. In the loft is a door leading out to a balcony looking out towards the beach. I can already see myself having coffee every morning sitting right there. I hear in the distance Mitch claiming a bedroom. I go look at the rooms and see Mitch sitting on a large king size bed.  
"Wow, you got a nice room!" I said.  
"You better grab your room before the others come in." Mitch said.  
I go next door and see a room decorated in light purple and white. I go in and see that it also has a king size bed. I laughed because I had never had a king size bed. I lay on it and stretch out my arms. I am so small on this bed. Mitch comes into the room and says, "Isn't it amazing!"  
"Yes, Mitch, this summer is going to be so much fun! We needed this! We have worked so hard over the past year and we need some time away from the world and just relax. Our families know that we are here, but other than that, no one really knows we are here."  
Mitch comes over and lies beside me, "This bed is huge!"  
"Do all the rooms have king size beds?" I asked.  
"I think so, why?" Mitch asked.  
"Don't you think that Scott would want a king size bed, I was thinking that he might want one." I say.  
"He can always share with me." Mitch said and then laughed.  
"I guess we better go get our stuff." I say as I stand up.  
"I'm so glad that you picked the room right next to mine." Mitch said.  
We head outside and Mitch tells the group that we have already claimed our rooms. Kevin speaks up and says, "Hey, no fair. We should all get to pick rooms at the same time."  
"Sorry," Mitch said feeling guilty.  
"Only kidding, all of the rooms are awesome, I looked online." Kevin said with a smile.  
I head over to the massive pile of stuff and search for my bags. I see them and start to grab them all. Avi comes up and grabs them out of my hands. I turn and smile, "Thanks Avi."  
Avi smiles back and winks. Avi is so sweet. He is always doing little things for me. Avi then looks back at me and says, "Are you going to show me your room?"  
I giggle and say, "Sure." I run up to where he is at trying my best to not act like a schoolgirl who has a crush.  
We walk down the hall and I see that Scott has claimed the room on the other side of Mitch's room, of course, I think to myself. We head down the hall to the last door and I stop and say, "Here's my room."  
"Kirstie, did you have to pick the furthest room away." Avi said teasing as he walked into my room and placed the bags down on the bed.  
"You better go get your room."  
"I'll be good wherever. I'll get one in a bit. I see why you picked this room, it's definitely you." Avi said.  
"What makes you say that?"  
"It's your favorite color, purple." Avi said with a smile.  
"You know my favorite color, awe." I said mentally telling myself to shut up.  
"I know a lot of things about you, Kirstie. Why are you so surprised?" Avi asked.  
"I don't know, I guess we all know each other pretty well now." I said.  
"Thank you for helping me with my things." I added.  
"You bet." Avi said. He then headed out of the room down the hall.  
I lay on my bed face down into my pillow. I have the biggest crush on Avi and I can't even stand it. I never know what to say around him and get all flustered. I sit up and walk towards the window and look out at the ocean. The view is breathtaking. I hear a voice behind me.  
"Hey Kirstie, you like your room?" Scott asked.  
"Yes, I love it!"  
"I saw Avi helping you with your things." Scott said with a smile.  
"Stop it, Scott." I said. He liked to tease me about Avi. I sometimes wondered if they (being Mitch and Scott) knew that I liked Avi.  
"It's sweet." Scott said as he came over and placed his arm around me.  
"He is very sweet." I said.  
"Kirstie, we are going to have so much fun here!" Scott said.  
"Do you like your room?" I asked.  
"Oh my gosh, I love it!" Scott said.  
Scott and I stood looking out towards the beach when Mitch came up on the other side of me and we all had our arms around each other.  
"Look how far we have come from being those three kids making videos for YouTube." I said. We all look at each other and smile.  
"Yes, we have come a long way!" Scott said.  
"Now let's go get ready and head out to the beach!" Mitch said running out of the room to his room.

_**(A/N) Sorry for the short chapter... Next chapter will be another POV. Not sure who it will be yet. Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed.**_


	2. Chapter 2

(Avi's POV)

I am bringing some more bags in when I see Mitch, Scott, and Kirstie run through the house to the back deck in their swimsuits. I can't help but notice how nice Kirstie looks in her lime green bikini. I try not and stare. Scott stops and turns back to me and says, "We are headed down to the beach, come join us!"

"I'll be there in a bit." I say back. Scott smiles and closes the sliding glass door and I see them head down towards the water.

I go and quickly put my stuff down in a room on the other side of the kitchen. I am amazed at how great all of the rooms are. Kevin grabs the room next to mine. There is one more room next to Kevin's that is a guest room. I'm sure that there will be some guests throughout the summer thinking of at least my sister, Ester. I put my suit on and go tell Kevin where we will all be.

"I'm just going to chill for a little bit, I have to go check out the studio downstairs, man. Then, I'll come out." Kevin says.

"Kevin, do you ever not work?" I say and then walked out the door towards my friends.

I see Scott and Mitch in the water splashing each other and Kirstie sitting on a small beach chair underneath a large beach umbrella. I go up to her and sit in the empty chair next to hers. She looks at me nervously for some reason. She's been acting a little different towards me ever since we got to the house today. I don't know how to tell her that I like her.

"Why aren't you in the water?" I ask.

"I don't know. I just wanted to sit for a little bit and enjoy the view." Kirstie says.

"It's beautiful here, I could definitely get used to being here for a little while, Kirstie."

"Will Ester come see us this summer?" Kirstie asks.

"I think so, not sure when," I reply and then add, "Will you have anyone come see us?"

I was wondering if she was still on again, off again, with her ex, Jeremy. She looked over at me and says, "I doubt it."

"What about Jeremy?" I ask wanting to know.

"What about him? It's over for good this time." Kirstie says with a sigh.

"What happened?" I ask.

"Long story, but the short version is that he wanted to control my every move and I don't like that." Kirstie says standing up. She pulls me up from the chair and asks, "Do you want to go in the water, Avi?"

I look at her and she is so beautiful in this moment. I nod before I say something stupid.

We go into the water slowly at first and then get closer to where Scott and Mitch are. They look at us like they are planning something and I look at them and say, "No, stop right there. Whatever you are thinking, stop."

"Us, we aren't planning anything at all." Mitch says with the most innocent look on his face trying to hold in his laughter.

Scott, meanwhile, doesn't stop and comes over and dunks me and then dunks Kirstie in the water. We are all laughing and trying to dunk each other. Kirstie was able to dunk Scott surprisingly with their height difference, but I think he let her because of how bad he got her the first time around. Mitch and Kirstie go back to the beach where the chairs are and sit out in the sun for a bit closing the umbrella. I am surprised when Scott comes over and asks, "So, do you like Kirstie?"

I look back to see if she heard and look back at him and say, "Not so loud, Scott."

Scott smiles and says, "I knew it."

"I didn't say yes." I say knowing that I am blushing.

"You didn't say no." Scott said with a laugh.

"It doesn't matter; I don't think that she even sees me in that way." I say.

"How do you know?" Scott said seriously, this time.

"I don't know. Has she said something to you?" I ask.

"No, I have just noticed some things. I get the feeling that you both like each other, that's all." Scott says.

"Really, you think that she could like me?" I ask.

"I don't know for sure. But, I do know that she has been staring at you since she has been sitting down with Mitch." Scott says with a big splash my way. He laughs and goes in to sit out in the sun too.

I laugh and look over at Kirstie and smile. She smiles back and looks down at her phone. I walk up to her and I make sure to shake my wet hair all over Scott first. I sit down beside Kirstie and lean over and say, "Hey."

She looks up at me and says, "Hey."

I hear Mitch in the background asking Scott if he had put on enough sunscreen.

"Yes, Mitchie, I put on my sunscreen like a good boy." Scott says with a smirk.

"I'm just trying to watch out for your beautiful skin, darling." Mitch says with a smile.

I turn to Kirstie and say, "Do you want to go for a walk?"

"Sure, that sounds nice." Kirstie says.

We both get up and go towards the pier in the distance. It looks like it's about a mile away from where they are. We walk in the water just barely, just enough for the waves to sit our feet. We don't really say anything, just walk. I feel like my heart is pounding out of my chest. I want to tell her, but I don't know how. This is Kirstie, we are talking about. I look back to where our stuff is and see Scott and Mitch talking. I turn back towards the beach in front of us and I decide to make a small move. I reach down and take Kirstie's hand. She intertwines her fingers with mine in response and squeezes it. I smile and we being to sway our arms as we walk. I was hoping that she was able to sense my feelings for her through me holding her hand. I think to myself, just a step at a time.


	3. Chapter 3

(Scott's POV)

I am enjoying the sun so much. I don't tan that much, but it doesn't mean that I don't love the sun. I look over and see Mitch humming to the music in his earbuds. I reach over and pull one out and say, "Whatcha listening too?"

"Who else, Beyonce!" he sings.

"I want to listen!" I say as I lean over and put the earbud in my ear. We lay side by side both humming and singing. We move our hands in the air to the beat of the music. I sit up and pull the other earbud out of Mitch's ear and say, "Listen, we need to talk."

Mitch sits up quickly, concerned, and says, "Okay."

I nod my head over in the direction of Avi and Kirstie who was walking hand in hand now. I look at Mitch and smile and say, "I think that it's going to happen finally."

Mitch looks behind him and then turns with a huge grin and says, "Yes, it's about time. I love those two. They would be so perfect for each other!"

"I agree, they are so sweet, so caring, so everything. They deserve each other. I hope it works for them." I say.

"Scott, oh no, your shoulders, they are getting red." Mitch says reaching over lightly touching them.

I winch and say, "Well, don't touch them."

"I've got some aloe at the house, let's go. You need to get out of the sun, boyfriend." Mitch insists. Mitch stands up and tries to pull me up from a sitting position. I laugh and get up and say, "Okay, I got it," and I stand up. I take out my phone and text Avi to let them know that we are heading in. I think to myself, great, this will give them some time alone. Mitch loops his arm in mine and we head back towards the house.

Mitch brings me right into the bathroom and sits me down on a chair and gets the aloe. He lightly puts some on his fingertips and touches my shoulders gently. He takes such care of me, it's really rather sweet. He steps back and asks, "How's that?"

"Much better," I say and stand up and look in the mirror. My shoulders are a little red, but, not too bad. They will much better in the morning. No more sun today. I turn back to Mitch and say, "Thank you sweetie, for doing that."

Mitch looks at me with a smirk and says, "Anytime, baby."

We laugh because only the two of us could talk to each other this way and completely understand our friendship.

"Let's see what they have in the kitchen, I'm starving." I say.

Mitch laughs and says, "You are always starving."

We walk over to the kitchen and I open the fridge as Mitch opens the pantry. "Wow, they weren't kidding about being fully stocked. I think we could easily live off this food forever!" I say as I close the fridge.

"Same over here, we are fully stocked. How's the wine supply?" Mitch asks.

"I think the fridge over there by you is the one for beverages." I say pointing.

Mitch opens the door and squeals, "Oh my gosh!" He stands to the side and waves an arm like it's a prize. "Fully stocked fridge of beverages, check!"

"Alright!" I say walking over leaning over him. I grab a water bottle and go sit down in the living room.

Mitch grabs a water bottle also and heads into the living room. I turn on the TV to see what's on.

(Kristie's POV)

I can't believe that I'm holding hands with Avi! I am jumping up and down inside of myself like a little girl all while trying to remain this cool and collected girl on the outside. Does this mean what I think it does? Does Avi like me like I like him? Oh my gosh! Breathe, girl, just breathe. Avi is looking at me like he just asked me a question, oh no, what did he say.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" I ask.

"I was just asking if you wanted to head back to the chairs. I got a text from Scott saying that they went back inside the house." Avi says.

"Sure, we can head back over." I say.

We sit down on the chairs and Avi raises the umbrella so that the sun is blocked. He reaches over and grabs two water bottles from the cooler and hands me one.

"Thank you, Avi." I say taking a big gulp.

Avi grins and says, "Were you thirsty?"

I laugh, "Maybe a little bit." I look around and say, "That's just typical. They left all of their stuff for us to bring in."

Avi says, "I'll help bring it in. No worries."

"You are so sweet, Avi, probably the nicest, sweetest guy I know." I say.

"You are pretty sweet yourself, Kirstie," he says with a soft nudge towards me.

We both giggle and lean back and look out at the ocean. Avi reaches for my hand again and we find ourselves hand in hand again. I could so get used to this. I steal glances at Avi and I could have sworn he was doing the same. After a couple of hours of holding hands and talking and laughing, Avi finally stands up. I look up at him and say, "What's up?"

"I think we should head back in, it's getting to be late in the afternoon. We should get out of the sun; we've been out here for a while. I don't want you to burn," Avi says as he reaches towards me to help me out of the chair. I stand up and fall a little bit into him and he braces himself grabbing my waist. We stare at each other and I feel like I really want to kiss him, but I pull away a little bit and say, "Thank you, Avi."

(Avi's POV)

Oh my, Kirstie just fell into my arms, sort of. I should have kissed her. I should have kissed her. It's only day one of this summer vacation, how am I going to keep my hands off of her. I need to tell her how I feel. She's been giving me a feeling that she might be into me too. She has been holding my hand a lot. I decide, why not, I'll just tell her now. Okay, Avi, I tell myself, pull it together. I look at Kirstie and reach for her hands. I pull her close and look her in the eyes, "Kirstie, I like you."

Kirstie looks at me and doesn't say anything for a second and then blurts out, "I like you!"

She smiles at me with that cute little crooked grin she has and I just melt. I lean in and give her a big hug. She wraps her arms around my waist and I just want to stay there in the hug forever. I could stay there forever. I feel like everything is going to be amazing.

I pull back and smile and say, "Let's head back."

She starts to gather her stuff and I reach over to grab as much as I can. She looks at me and says, "Avi, I can carry some stuff."

"I know." I laugh and her one of the towels in my hands.

She laughs and pulls one of the beach bags off my shoulder and says, "I can carry more."

We head back towards the house and lay all of the towels on the clothes line that is on the right side of the large deck. Kirstie hangs all of the towels and shakes off the beach stuff to get all of the sand off. She heads towards the door and I pull her back and say, "Kir, I had fun today."

She beams at me and says, "I had so much fun today, too. Thanks Avi." She leans up and hugs my neck and I wrap my arms around her waist. We hug for a moment and then she gives me a quick peck on my cheek. Again, I just melt inside. "Kirstie, if only you knew what you did to me."

I see her cheeks get warm and she heads inside.

(Mitch's POV)

I see Avi and Kirstie outside hugging and I nudge Scott in the arm. We don't want to seem like we are staring, but this is better than anything on TV at the moment. Scott and I causally watch through the windows from the couch. The couch just so happened to be facing the large wall of windows. It's not like we could help our view. Scott whispers to me, "Do you think that they like each other now?"

"We knew that already." I whisper back.

"Oh my gosh, look at that hug. Awe, they are so cute!" I say quietly.

"She gave him a peck on the cheek", Scott says and then we both say, "Awe."

I see Kirstie walk in like she's a school girl with a crush. Scott and I both try and act like we are watching SpongeBob. Kirstie walks in front of the TV with arms crossed.

"What?" I say grinning and add, "Did you have a nice time?"

She grins back and throws a pillow at me and says, "Mitch, Scott, the next time you leave the beach, bring your stuff back with you. New rule."

I say, "I had to take care of Scotty, he has sunburn. I was going to come back and get it. But, I didn't want to intrude on your date." I winked at her. Avi came into the living room as well.

Kirstie glared at me and said, "Shhh."

I guess they aren't an item officially yet. I nod.

Kirstie grabs her cover up and wraps it around her.

"Hey guys, the kitchen is fully stocked of food and beverages. And when I say fully stocked, I mean it." I say.

Avi heads over to check it out. Kirstie sits down beside Scott on the couch and he puts his arm around her and whispers in her ear, "We think that you two are so cute together." He puts his arm back down in his lap. Kirstie smiles at Scott and me and says, "Thanks guys. But, shh.. This is new. Let it happen on its own. We have the whole summer."

Avi asks Kirstie from the kitchen if she's hungry or if she wants anything to drink. Scott and I both look at her and smile and say, "Awe."

Kirstie blushes and gets up and heads into the kitchen.

"We are so bad." Scott laughs.

"I know, but it's out of love." I say and add, "They are so cute."

(A/N) Okay, so that was 4 POV's all in one chapter! Whaaat. Just got on a roll, I'll update again this weekend. It's hard for me to write in POV's, but this is fun. I know that the story has been all fluff and rainbows so far, but some drama might be right around the corner. Thank you for reading! Stay tuned.


	4. Chapter 4

(Kristie's POV)

I go into the kitchen to see what Avi has found and am surprised at the amount of food and drinks. I yell back to Mitch, "You weren't kidding."

I lean around Avi who is looking at the food in the fridge and I ask, "What are you going to have?"

Avi puts an arm around me. He turns towards me and says, "I think that I am going to make us all dinner tonight. I have a great family recipe that I can use. I'm going to have Ester email me, but I think that I have all of the ingredients that I need."

"Avi, wow, that's really nice of you!" I say.

"It's really for you, but, you know, we all have to eat." Avi says with a small smile.

I feel all giddy inside and can't believe that Avi likes me. He's actually flirting with me. I think this is exactly what I need right now, a nice guy who genuinely cares for me. I smile and say, "Well, I am going to go take a shower and get all this sand out of my hair. I'm looking forward to dinner."

I head back into the living room as Scott and Mitch both quickly turn towards the TV as if they weren't listening. I lean between them and say, "It's not nice to eavesdrop on your friend."

Mitch says, "We weren't trying too. Sorry Kirst." Mitch frowns and gives me his puppy dog eyes. I shake my head and head down the hall towards my room. I walk in and turn around and shut the door and lock it. I then run and jump on my bed and scream into my pillow. I sit up and can't stop smiling. I'm so happy in this moment. I head into the bathroom and start the shower. I wait a little bit for the shower to get warm, so I head back out and look out towards the beach. The sun is getting lower now and I can see a couple of ships in the distance. I head back into my bathroom to get ready for the dinner.

(Scott's POV)

Okay, we (meaning Mitch and I) need to get ourselves together. This is our sweet friend, Kristie, and her possibly new boyfriend. We are acting like kids listening in on their conversation. I look at Mitch and quietly say, "We need to back off and let this happen between them. We shouldn't have done that."

Mitch looks at me and says, "I know. I feel bad."

"Well, at least she's not mad; I think she's too head over heels for that." I say with a laugh.

We go back to watching SpongeBob and hear Avi in the kitchen. After about thirty minutes or so, I feel my phone vibrate and check it out and see that it's my sister calling me. I swipe my finger across the bottom to accept the call and say, "Hey Zoey."

"Scott, I'm so sorry, I was trying to call Kirstie and she wouldn't answer her phone. I have to talk to her." Zoey says almost out of breath.

"Calm down, what's wrong?" I say as Mitch turns to me and presses Mute on the remote.

"I did something awful. Kirstie is going to be so mad at me." Zoey says now in a calmer voice.

I stand up to go sit outside on the deck so that I can talk with my sister. Zoey is about two years younger than me, but we are really close. She and Kirstie are like sisters. I step outside and nod to Mitch that everything is fine. He was concerned when he could hear my sister's voice sound panicked.

"Okay, what happened?" I ask.

"It's about Jeremy." Zoey says.

"Kirstie's ex, that Jeremy, what happened?" I say wondering what in the world my sister was doing talking to that jerk. He's way too old for her.

"Jeremy took me out for coffee and I thought he was just being sweet. I thought that he just needed a friend since him and Kirstie officially broke up." Zoey started.

"Why on earth would you go out with him?" I say trying my best to not turn into an over-protective big brother.

"I didn't go out with him, Scotty, I just went for coffee. Anyways, listen, I haven't gotten to the bad part yet," she added.

"Okay, I'm listening." I say shaking my head quietly.

"Well, we were just talking and one thing lead to another and he somehow got of me where you are all staying this summer. And he's on his way there," says Zoey.

I am completely in shock and start to raise my voice and say, "Zoey, how could you, this was a private beach house, do you know how hard it is for us to be somewhere where no one knows where we are. He's going to tell everyone."

"No, no, he won't. He promised."

"And you believed him?" I ask rolling my eyes as if she could see me.

"He just wants to talk to Kirstie, she won't return his calls or texts," says Zoey.

"Maybe she needed some space. When did this all happen? Do we even have time to avoid him somehow?" I say, mentally doing the math in my head of how far he lives from the house. About five hours, I think to myself.

"Well," Zoey starts and then pauses.

"Well, what, Z. What time did you go out with him for coffee?" I ask getting frustrated with this whole conversation.

"Late last night," she says.

"Great, he's probably pulling up the house now?" I say.

"Scotty, I'm so sorry. I didn't know that all he wanted was to get information out of me. He seems like he's changed now. He really loves Kirstie and I want her to be happy too." Zoey pleads.

"Zoey, have you ever thought that maybe, she is happy now? She's starting something new with someone here. Let it happen." I say, making sure not to say who, who knows who she would tell that news too. I add, "I gotta go, Zoey, thanks for the delayed heads up."

I hang up and take a deep breath and turn and see Mitch standing at the door. He slides the door open and steps outside.

"Scott, is everything okay?" Mitch asks.

"No." I say.

I proceed to tell Mitch the whole conversation. Mitch is shocked and says, "How could she tell our private, secret location. Kirstie is going to be so pissed."

"We have to go tell Kirstie now." I say as we step back inside.

Kirstie was in the kitchen helping Avi with the food. She was just beaming around Avi and I could tell that I was about to crumble that. I look at her and ask, "Kirstie, can we talk for a second?"

She looks over at me and sees the seriousness of my face and quickly says, "Sure."

She walks with me to my room and I shut the door. She looks at me concerned. Mitch stayed behind with Avi helping him cook so Avi could go get showered and ready for dinner as well.

I turn to Kirstie and say, "You might want to sit down."

Kirstie didn't sit down, she wanted to stand. She proceeded to cross her arms knowing this was not going to be good. "Just tell me, don't drag this out, Scott. What's wrong?"

"Zoey tried to call you, she called me, she and Jeremy went out for coffee last night, basically, she told Jeremy where we are, and he's coming here to talk to you." I say quickly.

Kirstie now wants to sit and hops on my bed and grabs her phone out of her pocket and looks to see that she has had it on Do Not Disturb mode. She switches it over and sees that she has about five missed calls from Zoey and several text messages. She scans them and looks at me in horror. "Scott, he can't come here. Not now."

"I know; we won't let him in. We will ask him to leave. He won't stay, Kirstie." I say as I sit beside her on the bed. I put my arm around her to comfort her.

"Of course, this would happen, just when things are about to start happening for me. I can't believe your sister, Scott. Seriously, I thought that she had my back." Kirstie says standing up pacing the room.

"She has your back; she just doesn't think sometimes when a guy is giving her attention." I say.

Kirstie shakes her head and looks at me, "What are we going to do?"

"I don't know, maybe he won't show. Maybe he'll just try and call you?" I say.

"Well, he's been trying to call me, that's why I had my phone on Do Not Disturb." Kirstie says.

(Kirstie's POV)

This is not happening right now. The last person that I want in this house is Jeremy. My ex in the same room with my current boy-well, almost boyfriend. I know it's not Scott's fault, but I can't believe his sister. I am so mad right now. I look at Scott and say, "Okay, well, let's head back out to the living room. Maybe he won't show." Scott nods and we both walk out to the living room.

By this time, Kevin has emerged from the basement and is surprised at the time. Avi is getting ready in his room and Mitch has taken over cooking for a bit. Mitch looks over at me and half smiles hoping I'm okay. I nod and tilt my head and shrug. Kevin looks from Mitch to me to Scott and says, "Okay, what did I miss? There is some serious tension in the room right now."

I walk over to Kevin and say, "It's nothing. Did you like the recording studio? You were down there for hours!"

"Kirstie, it is amazing! Guys, we can start recording our third album here. It has everything we need." Kevin says still pumped from his work he was doing.

I walk over to the kitchen and look in the pots and walk over to Mitch who looked so concerned. I actually felt bad that he was feeling so bad about this. I put my arm around him and say, "No worries, Mitchie, everything will be okay."

He smiles and kisses me on my head and hugs me.

Avi comes back out and heads back into the kitchen to check on everything.

(Avi's POV)

I sense some tension in the air, but I try and not say anything. Kirstie looks amazing. I come into the kitchen and tell Mitch, "Great job, thank you."

Mitch smiles and goes to set the table. Everyone helps and I bring the food over to the table, I made crab and shrimp gumbo, steamed rice, and crab and cheese dip with some bread for dipping.

"Okay, everyone, let's sit down and eat. Ladies first," I say as I pull a chair out for Kirstie. I look up as Mitch grins. I smile and scoot the chair in as Kirstie sits down. We all sit around the table and everyone digs in.

"Oh my goodness, this is so good, Avi." Kirstie says.

"I'm glad that you like it." I say.

"I don't like it, I love it!" she says back.

"Okay, new rule, Avi is cooking every night." Scott says from across the table.

"I'll try, but we should take turns." I say laughing. I was happy that everyone was really enjoying the food.

We spend the next hour sitting around the table, eating, laughing and sharing stories of the tour. I get up to get some more wine and I hear the doorbell. I tell everyone, "I'll get it." As soon as I head to the door, I see Mitch, Kirstie, and Scott all stand up. I wasn't sure, but I thought that I saw Kirstie stand behind Scott a little bit. I opened the door and was surprised to see Jeremy, Kirsite's ex standing there.

(A/N: Hope you enjoyed. I'll update again soon. Thanks for reading! )


	5. Chapter 5

(Avi's POV)

"Hi Jeremy, what are you doing here?" I ask as I stand there still shocked that he is actually here.

Jeremy tries to look around me into the house and I step to block his view. He steps back and says, "Hi Avi. How's it going?"

"I guess it's going okay, why are you here?" I ask again.

"I need to talk to Kirstie, please," he insists.

I take a deep breath and sigh. I think to myself, so much for this evening. I tell him, "Wait here, I'll see if she's available."

I close the door and turn around and head into the kitchen area where everyone else is standing. This time, I see for myself, that Kirstie is in fact hiding behind Scott.

I walk towards the group and say, "Kirstie, there's uh, someone here to see you."

Kirstie steps from behind Scott and says, "No, I don't want to see him."

"Okay, I understand that, but, he's standing outside the house. What do you want me to tell him?" I say. I don't really know the full details of the relationship that Jeremy and Kirstie had, but I can tell that she's uneasy about it. This is when I see Scott step forward and say, "I'll talk to him."

"Fine, whoever. He's outside." I say. I start to clear some of the dishes away to busy myself. Kirstie joins me in the kitchen and she reaches out to me and grabs my hands, "Avi, I'm sorry. I don't want you to be upset."

"I'm not. I'm worried about you, Kir. What's going on? Why is Jeremy here? How did he find us?" I ask, realizing that I am bombarding her with questions right now.

"I guess he wants to talk. He took the break up hard and he just won't listen to me. He doesn't want to hear the truth. He sort of scares me when he gets like this," Kirstie says looking down at the ground.

"Well, you have nothing to be scared of here; I won't let anything happen to you. And your bodyguard, Scott, won't let anything happen to you either." I say with a smile.

She smiles because she knows that we all tease her that she's like Scott's little sister. They have been best friends forever and Scott would do anything for her. I've never been jealous of Scott because I know he doesn't see Kirstie in that way and she doesn't see him in that way either. I hug Kirstie and feel her wrap her arms around me and whisper something.

"What was that?" I ask.

"Sorry this evening was ruined." Kirstie says.

"It's not ruined at all. Don't let Jeremy ruin it. He's not even staying. He's still standing outside the door." I say.

(Scott's POV)

I walk to the door and open it and step outside. I see Jeremy sitting on the front steps and I walk down to where I'm now standing on the walkway facing him.

"Hi Jeremy," I say trying to be even toned.

He looks at me and sighs, "Great, she sent you instead."

Jeremy was always jealous of my friendship with Kirstie and couldn't understand how a guy and a girl could be nothing but friends.

"She didn't send me, I sent myself. She doesn't want to see you." I say.

"I'd like to talk to her, please." Jeremy says now standing.

"Jeremy, I realize that you drove all the way out here, but Kirstie wants nothing to do with you. Okay, give her some time. Give her some space. And stay away from my little sister." I say crossing my arms.

"Zoey is her own person, Scott. You can't decide who she hangs out with. Especially when you aren't even around," Jeremy says, knowing that would hurt me.

"I know that she is her own person. Regardless, Zoey is still a teenager and you are in your late twenties. You are too old for her," I say.

"Zoey is very mature for her age," Jeremy said with a sly smile.

I could hit him right here if I wanted too. But, I don't. He's just trying to get at me. It's what he does. He tries to manipulate everyone around him. Not this time.

"This is not about Zoey. This is about you. You are not welcomed here, Jeremy. Please go home," I say stepping one step towards him.

Jeremy seems frustrated. "Okay, I'll go, if I can talk to Kirstie for just five minutes. Please, Scott."

I sighed. This will be a long night, I think to myself.

(Kristie's POV)

I look over at Mitch and ask, "What's going on?"

Mitch looks at me and says, "Scott went outside to talk to Jeremy, they have been out there for a while."

I roll my eyes. Good god, this is just perfect. Knowing Scott and Jeremy, they are minutes away from a fight. I turn to Avi and say, "I'm sorry, I guess I need to go talk to Jeremy. It's not up to Scott to take care of this."

Avi looks at me with true sincerity and says, "That's fine, Kirstie."

"Avi, you are so incredible," I say and give him a quick kiss on the cheek. I smile and then turn towards the front door. I put my hand on the door handle and take a deep breath.

I open the door and see Scott facing the house and Jeremy with his back to the house. Scott glances up at me and frowns in disappointment. I can instantly tell from Scott's face that he did not want me to come outside. Jeremy turns around and sees me. I walk down the stairs and towards Scott and say, "You can go inside now, I'm going to talk to Jeremy."

Scott doesn't say a word. He just nods and walks past me. I don't know what kind of look he gave Jeremy as he walked past, but Jeremy flipped him off when he walked inside. I folded my arms and rolled my eyes.

"Why the hell are you here?" I ask.

"To see you, baby," Jeremy sweetly says reaching out for my arm.

"Do not call me baby. We are over, Jeremy. Why are you here? Let me live my life," I say frustrated because I feel that I have had this conversation with him for the past three months.

"Kirstie, you know that we are meant to be together. It's you and me, against the world. It's always just going to be just you and me," Jeremy says.

I look at him as if he is completely crazy. Does this guy actually think that we are going to get back together? Really. I look at him and can't help but compare him to Avi who is so patient, so kind, so caring. I find myself thinking of Avi and am snapped back to reality when Jeremy talks again.

"Kirstie, can you tell me that you don't love me anymore?" Jeremy asks.

"Jeremy, you know how I feel. I don't love you in that way anymore," I say.

"I wish you all the best, but I need to move on in my life. It's not good for us to be together." I say.

Jeremy starts to look as if he is going to cry a little bit and looks up at me and says, "Kirstie, please give me another chance. I will change."

I shake my head and say, "No. I'm sorry."

Jeremy then begins to get upset, really upset. He balls his fist and says, "Kirstie, why? You have to give me a reason! Is there someone else! IS IT SCOTT?!"

I laugh because this is Jeremy's reasoning and it's ridiculous. "That's right, Jeremy, that's the only reason I don't want to be with you. Give me a break!" I say.

"I knew it! It is SCOTT! I knew that you two were together; you were probably sleeping together all this time!" yelled Jeremy.

"Okay, you are going to have to stop right there, you are acting completely crazy. You need to stop yelling at me right now, or I'm going inside and calling the cops," I say a little proud of myself that I am standing up to this jerk.

Jeremy steps back a little and says, "Wow, Kirstie."

I say nothing. I am so over this conversation.

"Kirstie, please, I can be a better boyfriend. You just have to leave and come back home with me."

"Are you freaking kidding me right now? I'm not going anywhere with you," I say.

"Give me another chance, I have changed. I love you so much. This whole group, Pentatonix, has gotten in between us. You know that the guys are the ones with the talent in this group. They just wanted a pretty girl to sing with. It's changing you. Just leave the group and come back home. They'll find another pretty girl who can sing."

I look at him in total disgust right now, did he just put down my group, put down me, and then ask me to leave my group, basically, my family. I've had it at this point. I'm done with this guy.

"Jeremy, I'm done with this conversation. I don't love you; I am not in love with you. I don't even like you right now. I'm sorry that you drove all this way, but you'll just have to go and drive all the way back home. You are not welcomed here. Please leave now. I am not asking. I am telling you." I start to walk back up the stairs and he reaches and grabs my arm. I jerk out of his hold and yell, "Don't you dare touch me!"

Jeremy looks hurt, and says, "Kirstie. I wasn't going to hurt you. I want to show you that my love can be enough for us, just give me a chance. You will see."

I stand at the top of the stairs now looking down on him. "You can leave now."

"Kirstie, please," Jeremy pleads.

I stay strong. I don't say anything, but my face says it all.

I know that Jeremy is hurt now because he can barely look at me. He says, "Okay. I'm going, but I'm not giving up on us."

I watch him slowly go to his car and drive slowly away.

When I see the taillights disappear in the distance, I run inside, lock the door, and run down the hall to my room. I shut the door and go to my bed and cry into my pillow. I'm not really sure why I'm crying, I'm just crying out of frustration, out of anger.

(Mitch's POV)

Scott, Avi, Kevin, and I are all talking in the living room.

"Why did y'all let her come outside, I had it under control," Scott said.

"She wanted to talk to him and she didn't want you to have to deal with it," Avi said.

"Scott, it's okay, Kristie can take care of herself," I say.

We wait a few minutes and then we start to hear Jeremy yelling. I grab Scott's arm and say, "Hey, let it be."

"I hear my name, Mitch," Scott says.

"I know, we all do, but, that's okay. Let Kirstie do this," I say.

We wait several more long minutes and we hear nothing. We all stop and I slowly walk to the door. I peek out the window and I see Jeremy walking to his car. I turn around and walk quickly back towards the guys and say, "Looks like Jeremy is going."

"Good." Scott, Avi, and Kevin all say at the same time.

We all wait. We see Kirstie run in and run to her room. I look at the group and say, "I'm going to go talk to her."

I walk down the hall to Kirstie's door and I slowly open it to find her on her bed. I step in and close the door behind me. I hear Kirstie crying and walk over to her bed and sit beside her. I reach for her hair and pull it away from her face and pat her back.

"It's okay, girl," I say.

She looks at me and sits up and says, "Mitch, Jeremy is so awful."

She reached out and we hug.

"I know. I'm sorry that he came here. I'm sorry that he ruined your little dinner date with Avi," I say.

She leans back and smiles and says, "It wasn't a date. You all were here."

"I knew I could make you smile."

"You always can."

"So what's going on, why was Jeremy yelling Scott's name. We had to hold Scott back from going back out there."

"Jeremy has always had this thing in his mind that Scott and I are together."

She stops and we both have a laugh.

"Well, only the three of us can understand our friendship," I say shaking my head.

"Jeremy is so jealous at times," she added.

"He actually asked me to leave the group, that y'all could just find another girl to replace me," she added quietly, and then told me word for word what that jerk said to my dear sweet friend.

"Don't you believe a word of what he said," I say pulling her in for a hug.

"You, Kirstin, can never, ever, be replaced. We would not be Pentatonix without you."

She smiles again and says, "I could say the same for you as well."

"Okay, enough crying over that jerk. Now, let's clean your face so that you can go back out there and spend some time with Avi."

"I don't know, Mitch. I'm kind of tired tonight. I just want to go to bed."

"Okay, suit yourself. But, we are all just right outside that door if you need us. Okay."

(Avi's POV)

I want to desperately go to Kirstie and comfort her. But, I feel that I'm not the right person. When I see Mitch go after her, I am glad. They are so close and she can talk to him. Scott, Kevin, and I start to clean up dinner and clear the table. We are almost done when Mitch comes back into the main room.

"Guys, she's okay. But, she's tired and wants to go to bed," Mitch says.

"What did Jeremy say?" Scott asks.

Mitch tells us what he knows and tells us the insulting things that Jeremy said and we all get angered.

"Where is this guy, I need to knock some sense into him right now! Who has his number?"

"Kevin, calm down, it's okay," Mitch says.

Scott doesn't say anything, but I can tell he is mad. He's very quiet and his fists are clenched down by his sides.

"Scott, you okay." I ask walking over to him placing my hand on his shoulder.

He looks at me and says, "I should have gone out there."

"No, it would have turned into something more. You know that," I say.

"How dare he talk to her that way? Plus, he took out my little sister, Zoey last night." Scott says with a huff. He then steps outside and I see him dialing someone on his phone, most likely, Zoey.

Mitch turns to me and says, "Sorry, Avi, that dinner was ruined. Kirstie really enjoyed it. The food was amazing!"

"Thanks Mitch. I just can't believe that someone could be so mean to her. Kirstie is so kind and so amazingly talented. She knows that, right?" I say.

"I hope so. I told her that we aren't Pentatonix without her," Mitch says.

"That we aren't," I say.


	6. Chapter 6

(Kirstie's POV)

I wake up and see that it's dark outside and hear that it's quiet in the house. I look at my phone and it's about 2:15 in the morning. I get up and walk over to the window and look out at the moon light beach. I can see the waves crashing. I am so upset and hurt by what Jeremy said to me. I know it is all lies, but he has always known exactly what to say to me to hurt me. I grab my oversized hoodie and put it on and step quietly outside into the hallway. I tiptoe past Mitch's room and Scott's room. I head into the living room and realize how quiet the house is when everyone is sleeping. I go to the kitchen and grab a glass of water and head down to the basement; I never did get to check it out. I am instantly surprised at the size of the basement and realize that it's almost as large as the upstairs. I walk down the stairs and notice that the walls are very thick and have foam on them, must be soundproof. I go down and see a large sectional sofa, big screen TV, board games, movies, and books. I look over to the over side of the room there was a giant studio equipped with the latest and greatest technology. I run my fingers along the board and now know why Kevin was down here for hours. I see our music out on the table along with some new songs. I look at them and see my parts and frown. I put them back down and think to myself, am I even good enough for this group? I head over to the movie selection and scan through the hundreds of titles. I grab an old musical that I love to watch, The Sound of Music. I put it in the DVD player and relax on the oversized sectional that is probably big enough for ten people. I am getting to the part where Maria is singing about her favorite things and I am humming along to myself, when I hear someone coming down the stairs.

"Hello," Scott calls from the stairs.

"Hi Scott," I say as I lower the volume on the TV.

"I saw the light on and wondered who was down here. Wow, this room is amazing! I would never have expected it," Scott says looking around.

"I know, right," I say.

Scott comes over to me and sits down right beside me and leans over, "How are you doing, K?"

"I could be better," I say leaning onto his shoulder.

He looks at the TV and we watch for a little bit. He grabs the remote and hits Pause and turns towards me. "Kirstie, you are so talented. You are amazing. Don't believe a word of what that dumbass said to you. You are one of the best singers that I know."

I shrug.

"Don't shrug, know it. You are. Can I kick his ass the next time I see him, please?" Scott says with leaning back onto the couch.

"No, he's not worth it," I say.

"You don't believe him, do you?" Scott asks.

"No. It is just that words hurt sometimes, I hate that saying, words never hurt me, however it goes, but, for me, they do hurt," I say.

"I know," Scott puts his arm around me and comforts me.

"Then let our words raise you back up. I know three other members of this group who think that you are amazing!" Scott says.

"Thanks, you guys are amazing too," I say.

We sit and watch the movie and I fall asleep to Maria singing again.

(Scott's POV)

I hate seeing Kirstie like this, she's in a funk. She needs to be happy Kirstie. I look over and see that she fell asleep. I get up slowly, which is hard to do on a large leather sectional. I try and make minimum noises and laugh at myself in my mind. I grab a blanket and cover her and turn the TV volume down some, but still leave it on if she wakes up. I walk up the stairs into the kitchen and head back to bed. I wake up in a couple of hours and it is about seven in the morning. I get up and walk over into the living room and see Kevin busily making some breakfast and Mitch making some coffee. Avi is cooking some bacon. I walk over and say, "Hey guys," and sneak a piece of bacon that just finished cooking.

"Hey Blondie, how did you sleep?" Mitch asks.

"Okay, I got up in the middle of the night because I was hungry. But, I went back to sleep. Hey, Kevin, you didn't tell us how amazing the basement was!" I said remembering the basement.

"Guys, it's so cool. It's got everything down there." Kevin says cooking some eggs.

"Really, I want to go see," Mitch says grabbing his coffee and walking towards the door.

"Wait, not now. Kirstie is down there, sleeping, I think, unless she came back up," I say.

"What?" Mitch asks.

"Yeah, I was hungry, so I came in here to get some food and I saw that the basement light was on. I was curious to see who it was and I went down there and she was watching a movie. We watched it for a little bit and she fell asleep." I say pouring me a cup of coffee now.

"How is she?" Avi asks.

"She's not great. She's upset about everything that Jeremy said to her. I could seriously hurt him for what he said." I say.

"Hi everyone," Kirstie says coming up from the basement.

"Hey girlfriend," Mitch says hugging Kirstie tightly.

"Okay, okay, Mitch. I love you too," Kirstie says smiling.

She walks over to get some coffee as we all look at her.

(Kirstie's POV)

Oh my goodness, they are all staring at me. Every last one of them, this is just a little bit more than I can handle right now. I grab my coffee and lightly smile and head outside to look out at the beach in the morning and hear the waves. Maybe the sound of the waves will cancel out the sound of my own thoughts in my head. I sit in one of the rocking chairs and place my coffee on the small table. I bring my knees up to my chest and just sit there and look out at the waves.

(Avi's POV)

I see Kirstie and give Scott the tongs to take over on bacon duty. If he's cooking it, he'll stop eating it, I think to myself. That boy can eat and you would never know it from his size. He gladly takes over and I head to the back deck. I slide open the door and walk over to Kirstie. I just want to hold her in my arms, but we aren't quite there yet. Are we anywhere? I don't really know where her mind is at. I sit beside her in a nearby chair and say, "How did you sleep? I heard you fell asleep to a movie downstairs, which one?"

Kirstie looks over at me and says, "Sound of Music".

"Kirstie," I say.

"Yes."

"I just want to know if we are okay." I say reaching out to hold her hand.

She takes my hand and looks me in the eye and says, "More than okay."

I smile and touch her cheek and then lean in and give her a small kiss on the cheek. She smiles a little bit and I say, "I almost saw you smile."

This makes her smile more and I love it because I love seeing her smile. I love the way her brown eyes sparkle and her dark hair falls messily around her face in the morning.

"Can I tell you something and you won't completely freak out," I say.

"Okay," she cautiously says.

"You look absolutely gorgeous in the mornings." I say.

This makes her blush and she then realizes that her hair is a mess. She looks at me and says, "Avi, I don't even have my hair fixed, makeup on, nothing. I'm in my pajama pants and a large oversized hoodie."

"Exactly, absolutely beautiful," I say.

This makes her smile and she leans back in the rocking chair and stares at me. We sit quietly and look out at the beach and she rubs her fingertips along my arm. "Come on; let's get back inside before Scott and Kevin eat all of the good food."

"I'll be in a minute. I just want to sit here for a little bit more and finish my coffee." Kirstie says.

"Okay, but, if you don't come in, I'm bringing food out to you." I say standing up.

"I'll be in, promise." Kirstie says reaching for my arm.

I could definitely get used to all of this affection between us right now. I lean down and say, "Okay, see you in a bit." I give her another small kiss on her forehead.

I walk inside and the guys are all looking at me with smirks.

"Awe, you guys are so cute!" Mitch exclaims as he comes over and hugs me.

"Okay, Mitch. Enough of that," I say.

(Mitch's POV)

I am so excited for Avi and Kirstie, they totally deserve each other and Kirstie deserves to be with a man who will treat her like the princess she is. I tell Avi of my plan to have Kirstie's cousin, Emma, come stay for a week to cheer Kirstie up. But, I don't know if Emma can come yet. She hasn't gotten back with me yet. Emma is about one year younger than Kirstie, but they are so close. Their moms are twins. Emma is about the same height as Kirstie, but instead of olive skin, hazelnut brown eyes, and dark brown hair like Kirstie, she has fair skin with freckles, gray eyes, and light brown hair. But, she always brings fun around. She is so positive and upbeat and that's just want Kirstie needs. We all settle around the table and Kirstie comes back in from outside. Scott and Kevin managed to save some of the bacon for us and we were thankful. We ate everything and tried to keep it light hearted. Scott had turned on SpongeBob in the background and Kevin asked, "Is that show always on?"

"It's not, it's actually one of my DVDs" I say laughing.

"Wow, I thought that show was always on for some reason." Kevin said laughing.

I feel my phone buzz and I pull it out and look at the message from Emma. I jump up and am so excited. "Kirstie, guess who is coming to stay here for the next week?"

"Who," Kirstie says with hesitation, and then adds, "Do I get a say in this guest?"

"You will love this person; you already do love this person. It's Emma!" I say.

"Seriously, Mitch, Emma is coming! Oh my gosh! Thank you. How did she get out of work?" Kirstie asks knowing that Emma was a camp counselor in the summer at the local camp.

"We worked it out; I told her that she was needed here." I say.

"Mitch, I could kiss you." Kirstie says as she comes around and hugs my neck from behind and gives me a kiss on the cheek.

"Kirstie, we all love you and you need to know that you are loved, you are talented, and you are amazing!" I say.

Kirstie smiles and pulls out her phone to dial Emma right away and heads to her room. I hear her excitedly talking to her on the phone.

"You earned some major best friend brownie points there, Mitch." Scott jokes.

(Kirstie's POV)

I am so excited to have Emma come here, I can't contain myself. I haven't seen her in almost a whole year. I talked to her and she is on her way. I wanted to make sure that she wasn't going to get in trouble with work and she said that she just took this session off; she'll be back for the next session, no worries. She did ask if she could bring her friend, Olivia. I didn't really know Olivia that well, but thought there was no harm in having someone else come. The house was plenty big enough. I explained that we might have to bunk up and share the bed and she was fine.

"Kirstie, Olivia can be a little pushy at times, but she means well. I would love to surprise her with this trip. She's been so great this past year while you have been away. She loves Pentatonix almost as much as I do." Emma said.

"Wow, she's not going to be all fan girl?" I ask.

"Not after a couple of minutes of screaming. Just prepare the guys. See y'all later on." Emma says.

I think to myself, uh oh. I hope this doesn't turn out getting weird. I head back out to the main room to where the guys are and say, "hey guys" in my most sugary sweet voice.

"Oh no," Scott says, knowing the voice well.

"So, there might be two people coming to stay here for the week. Emma is bringing her friend, Olivia." I say with a smile biting my lower lip.

"Who's Olivia?" Mitch asks.

"She's a good friend of Emma's who has been there for her this year and she might be a big fan of our group." I say.

"Kirstie," Scott says.

I can hear Scott's speech before he starts and I talk before he has a chance.

"I think it'll be good, it'll be nice to have some other women in the house," I say.

"Emma is so thrilled to see everyone again, she misses all of you. Her friend will be fine. If she's great friends with Emma, she'll be fine." I add.

"Okay, I guess so." Scott says.

Mitch squeals, "I can already see it, slumber party!"

I look over at Avi and smile and walk up to him. "Do you want to go the beach today?"

Avi smiles and says, "Of course, anywhere with you."

"Meet you in twenty. I'll go grab my stuff." I head back to my room and look at my bikinis. I grab my pale pink one and put that one and look in the mirror. I feel like it really shows my tan because of the color. I comb my hair and just let it hang down. I put on my while cover-up and grab my beach bag with all of my stuff and head out. I see Avi already standing at the back door waiting for me.

We head out to the beach and find a good spot. We get ready to head into the water as I start to spray sunscreen on myself. Avi asks if I need any help and I let him spray my back. I hear him clear his throat and I turn and ask, "Are you okay?"

"Yea, I'm good," he asks and I think that he's blushing.

I turn to Avi and say, "You look nice in your suit, Avi."

"You look nice in yours as well, Kirstie." Avi says with a flirtatious smile.

He grabs my hand and we head into the water. We are in the ocean to where we are touching the bottom and our heads and shoulders are above water. Avi keeps staring at me and I stare right back.

"It's good to see you smile, Kirstie." Avi says.

"It's easy to smile around you, Avi." I say.

Avi reaches for me and pulls me in close. I feel his arms wrap around my waist and feel my heart beat faster. In this moment, I feel that it's only me and Avi in this entire world. Our eyes have locked in and we just move with the waves.

(Avi's POV)

I lean towards Kirstie and I hug her as I pull her closer to me. I feel her leg graze against mine and feel her arms wrap around my waist. I gently kiss her neck and then her cheek. I move to her lips and kiss her softly. The kiss is amazing and everything that I thought it would be. Fireworks go off in my mind and I could live in this moment. I pull back to look at her and she looks stunned.

She finally says, "I wasn't expecting that."

"I know. I wasn't planning on it, just felt like it was the right moment." I say.

Kirstie looks at me and says, "I felt like it was too." With that, she put her arms around my neck and kissed me again. We both stopped after a little while and laughed. It was our first kiss and it was in an ocean. We walked back to the chairs and both fell into them out of breath. We continued to laugh and talk for a little bit. We knew that the guys would have given us a hard time if they saw us kissing in the ocean like that. We wouldn't hear the end of it. So, we decided to keep the 'kissing' between us. Kirstie and I both reclined our chairs and enjoyed the rays of the warm sun.

To be continued…


	7. Chapter 7

(Kirstie's POV)

Avi and I lost complete track of time. I sat up and looked at my phone. I looked over at Avi who looked so peaceful. "Avi, we should head back, it's almost 12:30. We've been out here for about four hours."

"Wow, really," Avi says and then sits up and stretches. "I was completely relaxing and just enjoying the company." He smiles over at me and I feel my heart race a little bit. I stand up and say, "Come on.. Let's go. I want to shower and change before Emma gets here."

Avi slowly gets up and we both start to gather all of the beach supplies. We leave the chairs and umbrella because no one seemed to bother them. We headed back inside and Avi stops me before we get too close to the house and says, "I really did have a wonderful beach date with you."

"It was a pretty great first date," I say smiling.

He leans down and softly kisses me leaving me only wanting more. I smile as he kisses me and kiss him back as well. We pull apart and head towards the house. I feel as if I'm on cloud nine and nothing could get me down even if it tried. As we got closer to the house, I darted in and grabbed a water bottle and headed to my room to shower. I lock the door and head into the shower and let the hot water wash away all the sunscreen and sand. I get out and change into some shorts and a sleeveless top. I put some gel into my hair to let the wave not get frizzy and dry a little bit. I don't really need any makeup because I've been able to get so much sun already. I put some moisturizer on and some lip gloss and I grab some ballet flats. I opt for my flats, even though they will make me a little shorter than my normal height that everyone is used too. I normally wear heels or wedges. I head out into the living room area and see that Scott was making everyone some lunch.

"Wow, Scott, this is nice of you," I say as I walk up to the counter in the kitchen. Scott looks over at me and then at my feet and smiles, "Hey shorty."

"Hey." I shot back, "I can't help it if I'm not freakishly tall like you."

"Only kidding," he looked over at me.

"Did you and Avi have a good time at the beach; y'all were out there for hours." Scott said as he continued making turkey and cheese sandwiches.

"Yes, it was perfect," I say as I look around the room for him. He must be in his room still getting ready.

"I'm so glad, K. Hey, when does Emma get here?" Scott asked.

"I don't know. I was going to call her in a bit and see when she was planning on getting here. Between you and me, I'm a little nervous about Olivia. I hope that this is going to be okay." I say.

"Too late now," Scott said and then added with a smile, "I'm sure that it'll be fine."

Avi comes out and comes over and grabs a sandwich and says, "Thanks Scott, I was starving."

Scott smirks, "I wasn't finished, I'm still working on the last one, Avi."

"Says the person who was stealing bacon this morning. Hmmm.." Avi said with a laugh.

"Touché, sir, touché." Scott says with a laugh.

Avi laughs and goes to the table and sits. Avi looks at me and winks and points to the empty chair beside him. I grab a plate and bring my sandwich over to the table and sit beside him. Avi smiles at me and we share glances and looks as we eat in our own little world of Avi and Kirstie. Mitch comes over and sits directly across from me and clears his throat.

"Umm…. Can I sit here or is this a table for two?" Mitch says.

"You can sit." I say with a small smirk.

Mitch raises his eyebrow at me and I know that he's going to corner me at some point wanting details. I laugh to myself because I know my best friend so well. Scott and Kevin grab plates and head over with some chips. We all sit around the table and talk and laugh. We laugh a lot when we are together. It doesn't take much to make one of crack.

(Emma's POV)

My friend, Olivia, and I are headed out to spend the week with my cousin, Kirstie, and her friends, who happen to be part of the wonderful singing group, Pentatonix. I played my latest mix CD of Pentatonix for the road trip. We sang along with the group and laughed at the parts we couldn't quite get.

"Okay, Em, where are we going," Olivia asks for the tenth time.

"I'll tell you. We are headed to a beach house for the next week on the coast. My cousin, Kirstie, is there." I say.

"Kirstie, really, I'll get to meet her finally!" Olivia squeals.

"Yes, she's there with some other friends of hers." I say.

It doesn't take long for Olivia to put two and two together, who else is with her, Emma, and you better not lie," Olivia says with her most serious tone.

This makes me laugh. I say, "I believe she told me, some guys, um, what were their names, Scott, Avi, Kevin, and Mitch."

"Shut the front door!" Olivia squeals. "Are you freaking kidding me, we are going to spend a week with PENTATONIX!"

"Okay, not if you are going to scream and squeal. You have to act normal, or try your best to act normal. They are normal people just like you and me. They just happen to be amazingly talented and gifted." I say.

I look over and see Olivia almost crying. "Are you crying?" I ask.

"No, I'm just freaking out. I can't believe that I'm going to actually get to spend the night with Scott, Avi, Mitch, Kevin, and Kirstie!" she squeals.

I pull the car over in a gas station and stop the car. I look over at Olivia and say, "Okay, get your screams and squeals out. Get out of the car and jump around and run around if need be."

"What are you talking about Emma?" Olivia looks at me so strangely.

"You can't go in there like some obsessed fangirl. Kirstie will kill me." I say smiling.

Olivia takes a breath and says, "Okay, I'm cool now."

"You sure?" I say waiting for it.

Olivia screams one last time and hugs my neck and says, "WE ARE GOING TO SEE PENTATONIX!"

I laugh out loud. "You good now?" I ask.

"Yes, I feel better, okay, what are we waiting for, let's go!" Olivia says.

"How close are we?" Olivia asks.

"I think we are about ten minutes away." I say waiting for her to squeal again. But, she did well, she just smiled and no squealing came. I took a breath and hoped that she would remain calm.

"Just be yourself, they will love you. You have been such a great friend to me this past year." I say.

"You have been such a great friend to me too." Olivia says.

We pull up to the house and park outside and both say, "Wow!"

"This place is amazing; I can't wait to see Kiristie!" I say jumping out of the car practically running up to the front door.

(Scott's POV)

We are all finishing up lunch and hear the doorbell. All I could think of was the jerk, Jeremy, from last night. I look at the group and say, "I'll get it. And if it's Jeremy, I'm kicking his ass. Just saying."

"Scott Hoying." Kirstie says.

I look back and shrug my shoulders, "What?"

I go to the door and open it and I see Emma. She looks a lot more grown up than I remembered. She's absolutely gorgeous. She has long, wavy light brown hair and those light gray eyes. I could look into them for days. I find my voice and say, "Hey Em!"

"Scott, it's so good to see you!" Emma says and hugs me. I feel my heart race a little bit and I don't really know why. This is Emma, Kirstie's cousin, who I have known since we were kids. Emma runs around me to Kirstie and they hug and scream with excitement. "Wow, that's loud." I say quietly.

I see, who I'm guessing, Emma's friend, Olivia, standing outside.

"Hi, I'm Scott, you must be Olivia. Come on in." I say stepping aside. Olivia seems quiet at first and doesn't really say anything but nods and grins. She is a little bit taller than Emma and has shoulder length jet black hair and dark brown eyes. Emma walks over to Olivia and introduces her to the room. We all politely say our hellos. Then, out of nowhere, fangirl.

"OH MY GOSH, IT'S SO GREAT TO MEET YOU ALL! I LOVE LOVE PENTATONIX AND I'M SO EXCITED TO BE HERE. Can I take a photo of us together? Are you single? When is your next album coming out? Can I come to your next show? Can you sing a song for me? Can I post it on Twitter? Can I see an episode of SuperFruit being shot? I AM YOUR BIGGEST FAN!" Olivia then goes around the room and attack-hugs every single member of the group and attempts to kiss them all. I was happy for once being so tall, she couldn't reach me for a kiss. Emma shakes her head and looks at Kirstie who is giving her a look.

We all stand there, Kevin, Avi, Mitch, Kirstie, and I, and are all sharing the same thought. I look over at Emma who seems embarrassed and is shaking her head.

(Kirstie's POV)

Okay, time for girl talk time. I grab the overly excited Olivia by the arm that has linked her onto Mitch. Mitch thanks me with his eyes and I loop my arm with Emma and we head to my bedroom. I look over my shoulders and say, "We are going to go have a little chat. I'll be back." I mouth 'sorry' to all of them.

This is not why we picked a private beach house. We love our fans, but, not crazy fans that will be staying in the house with us for a week. I get to my room and have Olivia sit on the bed. She begins to rub her hands over the comforter and asks what material it is. I tell Olivia to sit there and stay please.

"Em, can I talk to you for a moment in the hallway?" I ask.

Emma walks slowly out into the hall and I shut the door and look at her and say, "Okay, what was that?"

"I'm so sorry, Kir, I had no idea that she was going to go completely mental. Oh my god, what am I going to do? Do you want me to leave? I will. I'm so sorry. This is not what you need right now."

"No, it's fine. Hopefully, she will calm down now." I say and then it hits me and I start laughing.

"What's so funny?" Emma asks.

"This, this is funny. She kind of freaked back there. I think she scared Mitch." I say with a light chuckle. I then say, "Okay, you go back in there and calm her down or try too."

Emma heads back into my room and I head out to the living room. The guys are all standing exactly where they were and Avi speaks first.

"Okay, that was weird." Avi said.

"I'm sorry, guys; I should have just told Emma that she could come." I say.

"It's okay, she's a fan, and we should embrace the love! But, no twitter, no Instagram, nothing like that." Kevin says.

"Definitely not and no SuperFruit episodes." Mitch says shaking his head from side to side.

This makes all of us just laugh. I walk over to my friend, Mitch, and say, "Are you okay?"

"I think so," he says.

I hear Emma behind me and we all turn towards her.

"Guys, I'm so sorry. I had no idea. I mean, we both are fans of your music, I just didn't realize that she was going to do that. She seemed calm when she walked in?" Emma said genuinely.

"It's okay Em, no worries," Avi says.

"It is great to see all of you, it's been too long," Emma says smiling at everyone. She looks at Scott and glances down and turns back towards the hall. Kirstie walks with her arm around Emma and says, "Let's go talk to Ms. Olivia."

I walk in and we don't see Olivia and I panic a little bit.

Emma walks in and says, "Olivia, where are you?"

Olivia speaks from the closet, "Over here."

I look at Emma and mouth, "Don't think so."

I go over to the closet and see this girl that I just met going through my clothes. "What are you doing? Get out of my closet!" I say sternly.

"Sorry, Kirstie, I just wanted to see if we were the same size. I mean, I think I'm little bit smaller, but that's okay. Some of us are just naturally thin, sorry." Olivia says.

I shoot a look over at Emma as if to say, what did she just say to me?

I then say, "Olivia, please get out of my closet now."

Olivia gets up and walks past me with a smile and says, "Okay, okay. I thought that we could share clothes."

"Okay, I'm just going to have to set a few ground rules with you. Sorry, but, if you are going to stay here, no twitter, no Instagram, no social networking sites at all, no photos. And no messing with my stuff. Period." I say as nicely as I can.

Olivia smiles and says, "Okay, now that is cleared up, what's the relationship status of Scott and Avi and Kevin? Are they taken? Do you know if they every hook up with fans?"

Emma says, "Olivia, what is going on with you? This isn't you. Where is the sweet, kind girl that I know?"

Olivia smirks, "Emma, you may not want to get some while we are here, but I am."

Emma looks at her friend with her mouth open and then looks at me shocked, shaking her head.

I look at Olivia and can't believe that this sweet, quiet girl has turned into this nosy, want-to-be slut. Olivia senses my anger growing as well as Emma's and says, "I'm sorry, Kirstie. I won't go into your stuff anymore. I shouldn't have done that. Can I go to my room now?"

I am confused because now Olivia seems fine. Okay, this girl definitely has some issues, I think to myself. I say, "Sure, you are probably tired. We have a spare room on the other side of the house. I'll bring you there."

We walk to the other side of the house and past the guys. They all look cautiously as we pass. I show Olivia her room and she settles in. Emma looks at me and says, "I'm going to talk to her, Kir, I'm so sorry."

(Avi's POV)

Kirstie comes back into the living room and calls for a group meeting and we head downstairs where we know it is soundproof. We all head into the large living room down in the basement and I try my best to not be distracted by the awesomeness of this room. We all sit and Kirstie starts.

"Okay, group meeting, are we all okay? Do you want me to have Olivia stay somewhere else? Because I will gladly kick that girl out," Kirstie says angrily.

"She's harmless, she was just excited." Kevin said.

"I went into my room and that girl was going through my closet! You should have heard what she said to me and Emma just now," Kirstie said.

We all knew this was serious; Kirstie just doesn't get angry over anything.

"She's not a nice girl." Kirstie says crossing her arms in front of her leaning back on the couch.

I put my arm around her and say, "Sweetie, maybe she just was freaking out and now it's over. She seemed okay when you walked her to the other bedroom."

I think to myself, okay, I just called Kirstie sweetie in front of everyone. Maybe no one heard me.

Mitch leans over and says, "Awe." I shoot him a look and he straightens up.

"Scott?" I say. He is the unofficial leader of the group.

"I don't know. I don't like that she was going through Kirstie's stuff. If Kirstie's upset, that's not cool. I think that she was a little bit excited, but maybe Emma can talk to her and calm her down. She seemed nice when she first came into the house. We can take a vote, but I think it'll be fine for one night. We can see how things are tomorrow." Scott said.

"Sounds good to me," I say.

"Sounds good," Kevin says as well.

Mitch nods in agreement.

Kirstie frowns.

(Emma's POV)

I walk in and shut the door behind me. I look over at Olivia who is crying now. I go over and sit beside her on the bed. "Olivia, what happened back there? I've never known you to be like that."

"I don't know what came over me. I'm just so emotional. I wasn't expecting myself to act like that. I am so embarrassed. I can't stay here, Emma. I need to go back home, I am so mortified," Olivia says through tears.

"Olivia, don't feel that way. If you really feel you need to go, I'll let you go. I'll just rent a car to get back home." I say.

"I don't know Emma, I thought that I could be mature and grown up, but this crazy side of me comes out and I just feel like I need to get all of their attention." Olivia said.

I grab some tissues and hand them to her. I honestly don't know what to do. Part of me wishes that I just came here by myself and part of me wishes that she would leave.

"Emma, can you do me a favor?" Olivia asks.

"Sure, what's up?" I ask.

"Can you go get Kirstie; I need to apologize to her." Olivia says.

"I don't know if she's in the best of moods, right now. You kind of went through her stuff and were rude to her. I don't know if I feel comfortable having you stay here. I'm so sorry Olivia," I say.

Olivia looks at me and stands up. She looks very hurt. She grabs her stuff and the keys to my car and says, "Fine, I'm leaving. I'm staying in a hotel and then I'm going back home tomorrow morning."

I can't help but feel a little bit of relief and say, "Okay, I'm sorry."

"Don't be, some friend you turned out to be, Emma," Olivia says as she walks down the hall towards to front door and opens it and slams it.

I look around and notice that no one is in the upper level of the house and head downstairs as I see a light underneath the door. It gets really quiet as I head down and they all seemed relieved to see that it's just me. Kirstie looks pissed.

"Guys, I'm sorry for Olivia's behavior. Kirstie, I'm really sorry. You will be happy to know that she's gone. I asked her to leave," I say and then turn around to head back upstairs.

Kirstie gets up and says, "Em."

I turn around and come back down to where Kirstie and I are face to face. "What?" I say.

"Thank you, I know that was really difficult for you, but I appreciate it so much," she says and hugs me.

"I'm just so sorry, Kirstie, she was out of line," I whisper into her hair. I started to cry and Kirstie said, "Emma, don't cry."

"Emma," Mitch said coming over and hugging on me too.

"Next time, just leave your crazy friends at home," Mitch said trying to make me smile.

I smile and say, "I will try my best."


	8. Chapter 8

**(Kevin's POV)**  
"Hey guys, let's lighten the mood, shall we. We just so happen to all be down here together and there's an awesome recording studio right here. Let's test it out, shall we?" I say to the group with a big smile. Who can resist a big happy teddy bear like me?  
Mitch jumps right in, thank you Mitch, "Yes, let's do it! Emma, you can sit there in the chair at the controls and watch!"  
Emma wipes her eyes and says, "That would be nice, Mitch, as long as I don't have to touch anything, I wouldn't want to wreck it."  
I walk over and show Emma what button to push to be able to hear us, I plug in the headphones and she can hear us through them. I show her where the mic and speaker are so that we can hear her. She timidly sits as we all go into the large studio. It has state of the art everything. We all stand as we normally do at shows with Avi on the far left, then Kirstie, Scott, Mitch, and I on the other side. We each have a mic to sing into. I motion for Em to put on the headphones and press the sound button. She does so and says, "Yes, I can hear you now, Kevin."  
I smile and say, "We can hear you too, Em."  
I look at the group and say, "Let's sing, I Need Your Love."

**(Emma's POV)**  
Mitch starts the song and his voice is so crystal clear and perfect, then Avi and Kevin start their parts. Then Kirstie and Scott join in. Scott sings his solo and I am captivated by him. His voice is so good. They get to the chorus, and I move to the beat. I clap along when Kevin starts clapping and I am smiling right along. They are perfect. I smile to myself as I wish Olivia could see me now. My own private Pentatonix concert. HAHA, Olivia. They finish the song with Avi's solo and they finish. I press my speaker button and say, "Way to go, guys! That was amazing! Even better live!"

**(Scott's POV)**  
I'm glad that Emma is enjoying the song. I could stare into Emma's gorgeous eyes all day. I try not to stare. We go into another song, Can't Hold Us. I notice that Emma is getting into the song and that just makes me smile. We finish the song and Emma praises us once more. I smile and say, "Thanks Em, you are too kind." She looks at me and smiles shyly.

**(Kirstie's POV)**  
"Okay, Em, what do you want to hear?" I say.  
"I want to hear, Hey Momma/Hit The Road Jack, I think it's fitting for today's drama." Emma says with a laugh.  
"I couldn't agree more, Em." I say.

**(Emma's POV)**  
They are just as amazing on this song too. I try my best not to stare at Scott, but it's hard not to stare at someone who is singing in front of you. They finish up the song and I stand up and clap again smiling.  
Kirstie comes outside and hugs me. I smile and throw the headphones off and they fall onto the speaker button. Kirstie and I are both turned with our backs to the guys in the studio and are unaware that they can hear us.

**(Mitch's POV)**  
We stop talking when we hear Em and Kirstie talk. We should stop them.

**(Emma's POV)**  
"I'm okay, just a little hurt by what happened. I don't want y'all to be mad at me," I say.  
"Em, we aren't mad at all. Honestly." Kirstie says to me.  
"Kirstie, can I ask you a question and you promise you won't say anything to the guys?" I ask.  
"Sure," Kirstie says.  
We then see Avi pop his head out of the studio and say, "Unless you want to ask that question to all of us, you might want to take the headphones off the speaker button, Em." Avi smiled kindly.  
I turn and look and take the headphones off quickly and look at Kirstie and mouth, Oh My God. I laugh because I almost just spilled my secret. I am laughing now because I'm embarrassed and this is what I do, I laugh. I look at the guys who are laughing too. Mitch comes out and asks, "What is your question? I want to know? I won't tell the boys either."  
"Nice try, Mitchie, come on, Kirstie; let's go to your room." I say as we head upstairs.

**(Kirstie's POV)**  
Thank God Avi came out. He's so great like that. We get to my room and I shut the door so that we can privately talk. We sit on my bed and Emma starts going through her things and pulling out her shirts. I point to some empty drawers if she wants to use them.  
"So, what were you about to say downstairs?" I ask.  
"Okay, well, first of all, let's talk about you and Mr. Avi. He's so sweet by the way. I saw the way he looked at you while y'all were signing. I think he's in love." Em says.  
"I think I am too," I say with a smile.  
"We are doing so well, it's like no other relationship I have had. Jeremey doesn't even compare to Avi," I say.  
Emma looks at me and asks, "Have you talked to Jeremy the jerk?"  
"Not since he left and I don't plan on it. I think if he comes around, he might get hurt next time. Scott wants to kick his ass." I say and we both laugh because that is so unlike Scott.  
"Why does he want to do that?" Emma asks.  
"Some things that Jeremy said to me, it really was hateful stuff." I say.  
"Oh, that. Yes, Mitch told me about those things. Jeremy's an idiot. I just sat there and saw your talent for myself downstairs, Kirstie, and you, all of you, are so perfect together! I can't imagine any one of you leaving the group, it just wouldn't be Pentatonix." Em says, and then adds, "Back to Avi, have y'all kissed yet?"  
"Yes," I say shyly with a small smile.  
"And?" Em asks.  
"It was so amazing. He's such a great kisser. But, don't say anything; we are taking things one day at a time." I say.  
My turn to ask her the personal questions, "So, do you have a boyfriend?"  
Emma looks at me and says, "No, still single."  
I smile, "Do you like anyone?"  
"Yes," Emma replies.  
"Okay, that is not a way to answer a question. Come on, tell me." I say.  
"I have the biggest crush right now and I'm trying to deal with it, Kirstie." Emma says dropping her face into her hands.  
"Aw, who is it? I won't say anything." I say.  
"mmphf," Emma says muffled by her hands.  
I grab her hands and say, "Who?"  
"Scott," Emma says not looking at me.  
I sit back and tilt my head and fold my arms. I wait til she looks up and I smile at her. When she does, I say, "I think that's sweet. I had no idea."  
"I've always thought that he was, well, so cute, but, always thought that he saw me a kid sister, but, I don't know, I've grown up some, and it kind of hit me when I saw him earlier today." Emma says.  
"You have to tell him," I say.  
"No, and you aren't allowed to say a word, not to Avi, not to anyone. Promise." Emma says holding out her pinkie.  
I take it and say, "Fine, okay. But, this could be so much fun for me."

_**Meanwhile… downstairs in the basement….**_

**(Mitch's POV)**  
Me and the guys are talking while Emma and Kirstie went upstairs. I say, "We need to have a movie/game night tonight. Let's watch something scary and then play some games."  
Kevin chimes in and says, "Sounds like a plan, Mitch. I love scary movies."  
Scott says, "Yes, sounds fun!"  
Avi agrees.  
I run upstairs to tell the girls and knock on the door to Kirstie's room. I hear them shush and Kirstie says, "Come in."  
I walk in and can tell that they were definitely talking about something good. "Guys, it's no fair, you know I love secrets too. I'm great at keeping secrets, please tell me." I say plopping on the bed between them.  
Emma grabs my shoulder and says, "Sorry, Mitch, not this one." She laughs and it's good to see her laugh.  
I sit up and tell the girls about the movie/game night. Emma looks at Kirstie with a look and says, "I don't do scary movies."  
I look at Emma and say, "You can sit by me, we can scream together."  
Emma says okay.

**_Later that night…. Movie time…._**

**(Third Person – POV)**

They have lots of drinks, beer, and wine, and snacks spread out on the table in front of the large sectional. Avi and Kirstie grabbed a corner where Avi pulled Kirstie to his lap and they had a blanket. Avi wrapped his arms around Kirstie's waist and kissed her neck and whispered into her ear to make her laugh. Mitch looks over at them and says, "Y'all are too cute for words."  
Kirstie looks at Avi and kisses him on his cheek. Avi smiles and kisses her back and nuzzles into her hair.  
Kevin grabs the next section and sits right front and center of the big screen with Mitch on his side. Scott comes to sit by Mitch and Mitch says, "Make room for Em, she's sitting by me."  
Scott says, "Okay." He was excited for some reason to have her sit by him too.  
Emma slowly came downstairs and walked over to the couch and Mitch pulled her down beside him. She smiled and said, "I don't know about this you guys, I'm not really into scary movies, and I'm a wimp when it comes to these."  
Kevin looks over at Emma and says, "It won't be that scary." He then turns off the lights and Emma starts to stand. Mitch and Scott grab her arms then and Mitch says, "Stay, it'll be fine."  
Emma gets a blanket and brings it up to her face as the movie starts. She leans back and is already expecting the first jump. She buries her face into the blanket because the movie Kevin picked out was a Halloween movie and those really freak her out, she can already see her nightmares tonight. Scott looks over at her and is concerned. He places an arm on her back and whispers into her ear, "You okay, Em?"

**(Emma's POV)**  
I feel his breath on my ear, his hand on my back, and I am intoxicated with his whispered voice. I whip my head sideways almost into his face because I did not realize how close he was and I whisper, "I just don't like scary movies, and this one is the worse for me."  
Scott reaches down and grabs her hand. He leans back into the corner of the couch where he can stretch his legs out in front of him. He motions for me to come closer. He puts his arm up, and I slid in beside him with my legs stretched out beside his. I pull the blanket on top of me and he pulls some over as well. I really don't know how to feel about what's going on, I just let it happen. Of course, this is not helping my crush right now. Mitch leans back too and leans against me on my shoulder which pushes me more into Scott's body. I giggle to myself. Mitch turns to me and says, "Shhh.."  
I obey and keep quiet. I try not to look at Scott, but I wonder if he can feel my heart racing in my chest. There's another scary scene and I bury my face into my hands. I eventually just lean back and turn into Scott's side and close my eyes.

**(Scott's POV)**  
When Emma turns into my side, I slowly bring my arm down around her. Mitch has leaned over back towards the center. I actually felt bad that she was getting so freaked out. I started playing with the ends of her hair with my fingers not even realizing it. Her hair smelled so good, I would have to find out what shampoo she used. Wait, why I am thinking about this? What is going on? Emma doesn't see me that way. She couldn't. Could she? I realize that somehow, she fell asleep, and I just let her sleep against my body.

**(Avi's POV)**  
I wish that Kirstie and I had some privacy. I glance over and see that Scott and Emma are cuddling, from what it appears to be. I see Mitch and Kevin engrossed in the movie. I pull the blanket over Kirstie and lean in and plant a quiet kiss on her lips. I feel her smile and she reaches up and rubs her fingers through my beard. She kisses me quietly too. We have to be extra quiet. We steal a few more kisses and then we slowly pull the blanket back down and see that no one saw us. She whispers into my ear, "Avi, you are amazing."  
I smile and whisper into her ear, "Not even close to how amazing you are, baby."  
She smiled back at me and we interlocked our fingers.

**(Mitch's POV)**  
The movie ended and I look over at Emma who is sleeping.  
"Emma, are you sleeping?" I say.  
Scott shoots me a look.  
She slowly sits back into the couch and says, "Not anymore."  
"Emma, did you even watch any of it," I ask.  
"Not really, I told you, I don't like scary movies, especially the Halloween ones," Emma says.  
Emma stands up and says, "I'm going upstairs for a second, be right back."  
Scott looks at her with concern and says, "You okay?"  
Emma nods and says, "Yep, perfect. Kirstie, come with me, please?"  
Emma and Kirstie head upstairs. I look over at Scott and nudge him and say, "You okay?"  
"Yes, yes, I'm fine." Scott says.  
"Well, I have the perfect game for us to play. It'll lift the mood." I say.  
Kevin and Avi look at me and cautiously say, "What?"  
"Truth or Dare," I say with a smile.

**(Kirstie's POV)**  
I walk with Emma to the bathroom in my room. She starts brushing her teeth. I look at her and then feel I need to brush my teeth too. I laugh and say, "Why are we brushing our teeth?"  
Emma says, "I don't know, just wanted to have fresh breath."  
"Any particular reason?" Kirstie smiles at me.  
"You never know," Emma says.  
They mouth wash, check their hair, and head back downstairs.  
We are laughing as we head back downstairs and I walk over to Avi and give him a kiss. He pulls back and says, "Ooh, minty fresh."

**(Third Person - POV)**  
"Great, the girls are back. Okay, we are going to play a game of Truth or Dare. Now, grab the paper in front of you and fill out four truths and four dares. We'll use some bowls for each one." Mitch says.  
Emma sits back in her original spot by Mitch and Scott and everyone starts to think of truths and dares.

**To be continued…**


	9. Chapter 9

**(Mitch's POV)**  
"Okay, everyone get their truths and dares in the bowls. Let's start this little game!" I say. I mix up the two bowls and place them in the middle of the table in front of us. We are sitting on three sides of the table on the "U" shaped couch. Avi and Kirstie are sitting on one side, Kevin and I are sitting on the middle section, and Emma and Scott are sitting on the other side.  
"I think you should go first," Kevin says. Everyone agrees.  
"Okay, I love going first!" I say.  
Kevin asks, "Truth or Dare?"  
"Dare, I love dares," I say grabbing a random dare out of the bowl.  
I look at it and laugh. I clear my throat and say, "Dare – you must take two shots of vodka."  
Everyone laughs. "This should be an interesting game," Scott says. He hands me the bottle of vodka.  
I pour my shots and drink quickly and say, "ugggghh, I hate the taste of Vodka."  
Everyone laughs again. I look over at Emma and say, "Your turn!"

**(Emma's POV)**  
I'm nervous for some reason, but just laugh. I tell the group that I will take a truth and grab one out of the bowl. I look at it and put it back down in the lap face down. "I'm not answering this." I say.  
"Yes, you are, or take a drink," Mitch said holding a shot glass out to her.  
"What's it say, at least tell us that part," Kirstie says.  
"Truth – Name the best singer in the room," I read aloud and grab the shot glass out of Mitch's hands and pour a shot and down it quickly. I cough and laugh.  
"There's no way I'm answering that question in a room full of wonderful, talented, singers. In my eyes, you are all amazing and awesome." I say looking around the room and smiling.  
I look over at Scott and say, "Your turn."

**(Scott's POV)**  
"Thanks Emma, that's really nice of you to say." I say. I think about what I want to do.  
I grab a dare and read out loud, "Dare – Kiss the person across from you." I laugh as I look up and see Avi. Avi laughs too and the entire group laughs. "Come here, Avi, and get your kiss," I say as I walk over a give him a big smooch on his cheek making a big kissy noise. We all laugh as Avi turns bright red. Kirstie says, "Should I be worried, Avi?" She is laughing so hard. Avi says, "Okay, okay, sit down, Scott."

**(Avi's POV)**  
I tell the group, "I think that I'll grab a truth." I reach in the bowl and smile because it's so easy for me to answer. I read it out aloud, "Truth – Name the most beautiful person you know." I don't hesitate at all and say, "Kirstie, of course." Kirstie kisses me on the cheek and says, "Aww." Then, everyone, says it at the same time, "Aww.." I try not to turn red again and look at Kirstie and say, "your turn, babe."

**(Kirstie's POV)**  
I am truly falling for Avi more and more every day. He's so amazing. I grab a dare and read it out loud, "Dare – tell a secret to the person to your right." I look over at Kevin and think of something that I can say. I ask, "Kevin, can you keep this secret to yourself and not say anything?" He nods and closes his lips and twists an invisible key and throws away an invisible lock. I smile and lean over and whisper in his ear, "I think I'm falling in love." I lean back and everyone is itching to know what I say because Kevin looks at me and says, "That's not a secret, I knew that already." I laugh.

**(Kevin's POV)**  
"My turn," I say. I grab a truth and read it, "Truth – Name your biggest fear." I think for a second and say, "Probably heights." Everyone nods in agreement. I look over at Mitch who seems a bit more relaxed now, after his shots, and say, "Your turn."

**(Mitch's POV)**  
I reach for another dare and read it, "Dare – Stand up and dance to Beyoncé's Single Ladies." Emma laughs so loud, that she grabs my hand and pulls me to the clearing the room. She pulls out her phone and pulls up the song and say, "Let's do it, Mitch." Kirstie and Emma join me on both sides as the song starts and we do the best we can. We actually are pretty good and we are all rolling by the end. All the guys stand and give us a standing ovation. I lean over and tell Emma, "Thanks Em for the backup!"

**(Emma's POV)**  
I had to help Mitch out, I mean, who doesn't love to dance to that song, right? I'm feeling a little bit more relaxed and comfortable and my heart is beating at a normal rate even though I'm sitting by my secret crush. I smile and grab a dare. Mitch says, "ooooohh, you go girl, do a dare." I laugh and my heart stops as I read the words to myself. I look at Kirstie with a small panic. She sits up a bit and says, "Read it out loud." I take a deep breath and say, "Dare – kiss the person to your right." The room says, "Ooooo.." Mitch nudges me a little bit, "Kiss or drink up." I laugh and turn to Scott who is smiling, but his eyes are very serious. I look into his eyes and lean forward. He leans forward to me and I feel that we are in slow motion. I feel myself chickening out and try to be brave. I lightly kiss him on the mouth. His lips are so soft and I almost want to reach for his face, but I don't. Our eyes are closed and I feel an electricity in my body and I know that my heart literary stopped beating for a second. I pull away and look into his eyes and the seriousness is still there. I lean back a little and we share a small smile. I turn back towards the room and Kirstie is looking at me with a huge grin. I shake my head and laugh. "Okay, your turn, Scott."

**(Scott's POV)**  
Wow, that was some kiss. I know it was just a small little kiss, but this girl really has me going crazy. The way she looked at me with those eyes. I snap out of it and decide to do a truth this time. I laugh and say, "Okay, truth for me this time."  
"Had enough kisses," Mitch teases.  
"Shut up," I say jokingly.  
I pull the truth paper and read it, "Truth – who has the best eyes in the room?" I think to myself, that's easy, Emma. I look around the room and I see Mitch flashing his eyes at me and I laugh. I quietly say, "Emma."  
Avi stands up and says, "Break time, I need another drink for this game." Everyone gets up and gets some drinks. Emma touches me on the arm and says, "Really, wow, thanks."  
I look at her in almost shock, "You really don't see it, do you?"  
Emma says, "See what?"  
"You're beautiful," I say with a smile and stand up to go get a drink.

**(Emma's POV)**  
Did that just happen? I sit there and take a sip of my drink and watch Scott walk over to the bar area and fill his glass. He talks with the guys. Kirstie sees me sitting and comes up to me and nudges me and whispers in my ear, "I knew he was going to say your name, especially after that kiss."  
"Shhh," I tell her and say, "Don't say anything."  
Kirstie agrees and smiles and says quietly, "At least you got to kiss your crush. I had to wait to kiss Avi for years." We both laugh at this and everyone turns to look at us which makes us laugh even harder.  
Mitch says, "Oh no, they won't stop once they start." He smiles and everyone gets back to their seats as Kirstie and I are still laughing.

**(Avi's POV)**  
I love Kirstie's laugh, she's so amazing. I hug her as I sit and grab a dare. I read it to the group, "Dare – kiss the person to your right. Didn't Emma just have this one?" I laugh and look at Kirstie and grab her face and give her a big kiss. She laughs at first and then starts to kiss me back. For a moment, we forget the game. We give into the kiss and she reaches for my face as well and I wrap my arms around her. We hear a cough and we break away. Mitch says, "Okay, that was a little more than we all needed to see." He laughs and we laugh too.  
I shrug and say, "What can I say, I love kissing her."  
Kirstie nudges me in the side and says, "Hey."  
"Hey what, I do," I say kissing her on the cheek. She smiles her little crooked smile and I just melt. I feel that I'm falling for her more and more.

**(Kirstie's POV)**  
I grab a truth and take a breath. I read it, "Truth – Who is the best dancer in the room?" I laugh and say, "Well, I think that we all got a chance to see Mitch's Single Ladies dance and that was pretty awesome, so Mitch, I'm giving you this one, you are the best dancer in the room." Mitch laughs and says, "I'll take it. But, I did have two amazing backup dancers with me."

**(Kevin's POV)**  
"My turn and I'm taking a dare. I need some kisses too." I say with a laugh. I grab a dare and read it, "Dare – stand up and turn out the lights and scare someone. If they don't scream, drink a shot." I laugh and say, "This will be good. Hahaha…" Emma freezes as she already has issues with the dark, I make a mental note not to go for her. I don't want to scare her. I go to turn off the lights and start to quietly walk around the room. I hear everyone giggling softly.

**(Emma's POV)**  
Seriously, the dark again, I lean back in my seat and put my hands down beside me to find Scott's hand. I touch his hand and squeeze it slightly. He puts his hand in mine and squeezes it to reassure me. I smile although he can't see me.

**(Kevin's POV)**  
I walk up to Avi as quietly as I can and get as close as I can. I count in my head, 3, 2, 1… and I scream "AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Avi jumps and says, "Hey, that's not cool."  
I pull out my phone so I can easily find the lights again and we all laugh. I look at Mitch, "Okay Mitch, your turn."

**(Mitch's POV)**  
"Thank you for not scaring the crap out me, Kevin." I say. I reach into the truth bowl and pull out a slip of paper. I read it, "Truth – Name the person in the room who is the best kisser." I laugh and say, "Well, I haven't gotten any kisses tonight. Does anyone want to give me an example?" I laugh and say, "Okay, based on what I saw tonight and I think, I'm willing to bet that Avi is a good kisser."  
Kirstie chimes in and says, "I agree 100% with that!"  
I look over at Emma and say, "Em, your turn. What will it be this time? Truth or Dare?"

**(Emma's POV)**  
"Hmmm, I think that I will go with Dare," I say. I reach into the dare bowl and pull out the paper and look at it and say, "Seriously, this would be a dare for me." Mitch says, "What does it say?"  
I look down at the paper and say, "Dare – sing a song to the room. Okay, for starters, the five of you can sing, I for one, can't."  
Kirstie says, "Yes, you can. You just don't sing in front of anyone. I've heard you and you do have a lovely voice."  
I shake my head and say, "Okay, I have no idea why I am doing this, but, okay. I will sing. I just want you to know that this is hard to sing in front of professionals." I go to the front of the table and feel everyone staring at me. I bring an empty cup and chair to the table and Kirstie says, "Oh, I know what you are doing."  
I look at her and smile and say, "Yep." I grab the cup and clear a small section at table. I take a deep breath and start with the clapping, moving the cup, and start to sing the 'cups' song. I sing softly and I don't look up. My voice is not a strong voice like Kirstie's, just soft. I finish the song and look up and everyone is smiling. I say, "Okay, there you go."  
"That was great, Em." Scott says.  
"Thanks," I say as I bite my lower lip and sit back down. Mitch leans over and hugs me and says, "You are amazing."  
"Thanks Mitchy," I say.

**(Scott's POV)**  
"Well, how do I follow that? I'll take a dare, I guess." I thought that was so brave of Em to sing in front of us, knowing she was nervous, she did it anyway. I reach for the dare bowl and reach in a grab a paper. I laugh and say, "Dare – sing 'Let's Get It On' to someone in the room." I shake my head and my face, I'm sure, is red. I stand up and pull a chair out to the opening and say, "Any volunteers?"  
Kirstie says, "Emma will." Emma shot Kirstie a look and Mitch stands up and grabs Emma's hand and brings her to the chair and the whole group stands up so that we can all sing along. Emma is already blushing. I find it so cute. Mitch starts the song with his "Wha wha wha wha.." Emma is laughing and covering her face. I start signing just like we do at the shows and come up to Em and walk around her and place my hand on her shoulders. I sit in her lap to be funny and she wraps her hands around my waist and I get up. Everyone is singing along and Avi and Kirstie are signing to each other.  
We finish the song and I lean down and hug Em and say, "Thanks for being a good sport."  
Emma, who is still flushed, says, "Anytime, I always wondered what the girl in the chair felt like, and I think that I have a pretty good idea."

**(Avi's POV)**  
"I think that was a good finish to the game." I say. Everyone agrees. We all start to clean up and then we decide just to let it stay for the night and we'll do it in the morning.

**(Emma's POV)**  
We all head upstairs laughing and giving each other a hard time. I go into Kiriste's bedroom where all of my stuff is and grab some pajama bottoms and a t-shirt. I head into the bathroom and close the door. I look in the mirror and smile to myself. I can't believe that I got to be the 'chair girl'. I look at my phone and am surprised that it's almost 11:30 at night. I see that I have five texts messages from Olivia. I roll my eyes and read them.  
_Text Messages:_  
_'Em, I'm so sorry.'_  
_'Please forgive me'_  
_'I'm an idiot and I acted like one too.'_  
_'Can I come back? I'll be on my best behavior.'_  
_'Please, Em.'_  
I put my phone down knowing that I wasn't going to respond tonight. I'll call her tomorrow after some sleep. I brush my hair and pull it into a small twist and head out into Kirstie's bedroom only to walk in on Avi and Kirstie making out on her bed. I shield my eyes and say, "Sorry, I'll just head out."  
Kirstie jumps up and says, "Sorry, Em, sorry."  
"No worries. Stay there," I say as I giggle and head out of the door closing it behind me.  
I head into the hallway and giggle some more.

**(Mitch's POV)**  
I stick my head out of my room and say, "Okay, what did you just see?"  
"Nothing," Em says with a smile.  
"Come here, Em," I say.  
We walk into the room and Em sits on the end of the bed with her legs crossed. She flips through a magazine on my bed and looks up and says, "Are you thinking of changing your hair?"  
I shrug, "I don't know, maybe."  
"I love your hair, Mitch," Emma says.  
"So, do you have something to tell me?" I ask sitting on the bed too facing her.  
Emma looks at me strangely and says, "Like what?"  
"You know you can talk to me," I say.  
"I'm not telling you my secret." Emma says laughing hitting me with a pillow.  
That's it; I grab a pillow and hit her too. We jump off the bed and start swinging the pillows at each other and we don't realize that we are laughing so loud. We are jumping on the bed and jumping off and throwing every pillow that is available to us.

**(Scott's POV)**  
I'm in my room and all of a sudden, I hear erupting of laughter next door. I walk next door to Mitch's room and open the door and see Mitch and Emma running around having a pillow fight. I laugh and Emma comes over and hides behind me and says, "Protect me, Scott."  
I grab the pillow from Emma's hand and chase Mitch around the room. Emma joins in too and then all of a sudden, they decide to pick on me. I stop and fall on the bed, "Okay, okay… I give. It's no fair, two against one."  
I sit up and Emma is sitting on the floor and Mitch is sitting in a chair. We all take a deep breath and I stand up, "I think I'm going to go back to bed. Try and keep it down in here, you two." I smile and head out of the room. I go into my room and close the door. I go to my bed and fall back and put my arms behind my head. I sit in silence and I think of her. I think of her eyes. I think of her laugh. I think of her voice. I think of that kiss.

**(Emma's POV)**  
I get up and tell Mitch that I'm going to go sleep in the guest room. Mitch says, "Okay, you know where it is?"  
"Yea, thanks Mitch, good night." I say as I head out and down the hall.  
I stop at Scott's door and raise my hand to knock. I put my hand back down and decide to head into the guest bedroom.

**(Kirstie's POV)**  
Poor Em, that was humiliating for me. I'll have to talk to her in the morning. I can't believe how close I have gotten to Avi in just the past two days. This man is amazing and I feel so lucky. I lean against Avi and feel completely happy for the first time in a really long time.

**(Avi's POV)**  
Kirstie and I are lying in silence. She has her head on my chest and her hand on my hand. I have my arms around her and I lean in to kiss her again. I could live in her kisses. We kiss and kiss and kiss. We grow tired and Kirstie says, "It's getting late, Avi."  
"Do you want me to go?" I ask.  
"Not if you don't want too," Kirstie says.  
I lie beside her and cuddle with her and we both fell asleep.

**(Scott's POV)**  
I can't sleep. I look at my clock and it's almost 1 in the morning. I sit up and walk outside in the hallway. I go to the kitchen and grab something to eat. I go downstairs so I can watch some TV. I head down and am surprised to see Emma. I look around and see that the room is back in order and I say, "Did you clean all this?"  
She looks up at me and says, "Yea, I couldn't sleep. So, I clean sometimes when I can't sleep."  
"Thanks, you didn't have to do that, though. We would have cleaned it in the morning." I say.  
I sit on the other side of the sectional and say, "What are you watching?"  
"I was watching Frozen," she says.  
"Okay, that's fine," I say.  
"Cool," she says as she turns back to the TV and we both watch in silence for a while.  
I look over at her and say, "You know, Em, you really do have a nice voice. I know that was hard for you to sing in front of us, but it was really great. I love that song; I can do the cups song too."  
"Thanks Scott. You are being so nice to me," Emma says.  
"Why wouldn't I be?" I ask.  
"I don't know, you usually tease me and pick on me," Emma says with a small chuckle and then says, "like a big brother would his kid sister. I sort of feel that was the way you always saw me, you know."  
I stand up and walk over to her and sit down right beside her. I look at her and say, "I've never seen you that way."

**(Emma's POV)**  
Wow, wasn't expecting him to say that.  
"Really, what way do you see me?" I ask.  
Scott leans back and doesn't say anything. He just smiles and looks towards the TV.  
"Scott Hoying, you answer me," I say tickling his side.  
He turns to me and says, "Are you sure you want to start that battle, I am the king of tickling."  
I tickle him more and say, "Answer me."  
Scott wasn't kidding, he started tickling me and I started laughing hysterically. I tried to tickle him back, but he gently held my arms and had full access to my waist. He stopped when our faces were inches away from one another. My laughter faded and I stared into his eyes, it was there again, that seriousness in his eyes. I lean back and say, "You didn't answer the question."  
Scott leaned back and didn't say anything. "I wasn't going too." He smiled at me and gave me a small wink.  
I turn to Scott and say, "Earlier tonight, when I had that truth question that I wouldn't answer, the one about the best singer?"  
Scott says, "Yea, that's fine, no one expected you to answer that?"  
"I would have said you," I say with a small smile.  
I turn towards the TV and brought blanket up around me and leaned into the corner of the sectional.

**(Scott's POV)**  
I could lean over and kiss her for that. She was the sweetest girl for saying that. All I could think of to say was, "thanks Em."  
I wanted to tell Em everything that I was feeling, but I didn't know what I was feeling. Here sat this beautiful girl, who somehow opened my heart, and touched my soul. How do you tell someone that? I look over and see her lean into the corner of the sectional and knew that couldn't be comfortable. I scoot over and put my arm around her and she nuzzles into my chest like she did before during the scary movie. I cover the blanket and turn off the lights to where we were in the glow of Frozen on the TV. Em reaches her arm around my waist and I rub her shoulder with my fingers. We sit and watch the movie and somewhere along the way of, we both drifted off to sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

**(Kirstie's POV)**  
I turn onto my back and stretch. The morning sun is coming in through the windows and I slowly sit up in my bed. I turn and see Avi still sound asleep. I smile and lean down and kiss him on his forehead. I get up and go to the bathroom and see of Emma's stuff still here. I feel guilty, hoping she doesn't need anything. I walk out into the hall pulling the door closed softly. I walk down the hall and see that Mitch's door is still closed. I walk past Scott's door and it's open. I look in and no sign of Scott. I am surprised he's up already. I head out into the living room and past the kitchen to the other side of the house. I see the Guest room door open as well. I walk in and no sign of Emma. I turn back around and look on the deck and then up into the loft from the living room. Still no sign of Emma or Scott, I'm curious now. I look over to the basement door and open it and hear a TV on. I walk downstairs and see Scott and Emma sleeping on the couch. I almost want to take a picture, but I don't. They look so peaceful. I turn off the TV and turn around and see Scott stirring. He sits forward slowly moving Emma's arm that was wrapped around him. He rubs his eyes and looks at me.  
I smile and say, "How did you sleep?"  
"Fine, I need coffee," Scott says standing up. He looks back at Emma and sees that she's still sleeping. He then turns to me and says, "What?"  
I smile and stand and say, "Nothing, just observing, that's all."  
"Nothing happened, we just fell asleep watching TV," Scott said.  
"It didn't look like nothing. It looked like you two were all cuddled on the couch," I say with a smile.

**(Scott's POV)**  
"Stop it, Kirstie," I say. I head towards the stairs and turn to make sure that Kirstie is coming as well, I don't want to wake up Emma. She was sleeping so peacefully. We head upstairs to the kitchen. I start some coffee and wait for it to brew. I head outside onto the deck and look out at the beach. Kirstie joins me and says, "So, do you have something you want to say?"  
"No," I say with a smile.  
"Scott," Kirstie says.  
"Kir, no. I'm not talking about it with you," I say. I put my arm around her shoulder and say, "Okay, just like the movie, let it go."  
Kirstie laughs and we both jump into the song, "Let it Go…" We both laugh and head back inside. The coffee is done and I pour a cup and offer one to Kirstie as well. We sit at the table and I look up at Kirstie and ask, "Any word from Jeremy?"  
She shakes her head no.  
I tell her, "Good, I'm glad. Maybe he got the hint this time."  
She looks concerned and says, "I hope so."  
"How are you and Avi?" I ask.  
"Amazing," she says with a smile that would brighten any room. I smile and am glad to see her so happy.

**(Mitch's POV)**  
I walk out to the kitchen and say, "I smell coffee."  
Scott looks at me and says, "Good Morning, Sunshine."  
I say, "Morning, Blondie." I walk over and pour a cup for me and sit down at the table. "Are we talking about anything good?"  
Kirstie looks at Scott and then at me and smiles and says, "Why don't you ask Scott where he slept last night?"  
I look at Scott who is shooting a look towards Kirstie and I laugh, "Scott, where did you sleep last night?"  
"Kirstie, seriously…" Scott says. He gets up and brings his coffee with him and heads into his bedroom and we hear the door close.  
Kirstie looks at me and laughs and says, "It's so good to tease him for once, all this time, and he was always teasing me about Avi."  
"Um, what did I miss?" I say still trying to wake up. I take another sip of coffee.  
"Well, Scott and Emma fell asleep last night downstairs all cuddled up together on the couch. I saw them this morning." Kirstie says.  
"Oh, that's nothing, they are just good friends," I say.  
"It was cute, I was just teasing him anyway," Kirstie says.  
"Where did you sleep last night?" I say with a smirk.  
"In my bed, why?" Kirstie says.  
"Did you and Avi have a good night?" I say with a wink.  
Kirstie laughs and says, "Yes, but not what you are thinking. Get your mind out of the gutter."  
I get up to go check on Scott. I walk up to his door and knock. He says, "Come in."  
I walk in and he's sitting in the chair near the window looking at his phone. I sit on his bed facing him and look at him. He looks up and says, "What?"  
"Do you like Emma?" I ask.  
"Why?" he says.  
"Just curious," I say.  
"I don't know," he finally says.  
I laugh and say, "I knew that kiss was more than just a little peck."  
Scott looks up from his phone and says, "What are you talking about?"  
"Last night, that kiss with you and Emma. There was some serious eyes going between the two of you. I'm never wrong about these things. I called Avi and Kirstie getting together long ago," I say with a smile.  
Scott sighs.  
"So, I'm not wrong, am I," I say.  
Scott looks at me and doesn't say anything. He just sits there and sips his coffee. He raises his eyebrows and I stand up and say, "I knew it." I head out to the living room and turn back towards Scott and say, "Bye, lover boy."  
Scott shakes his head and looks back at his phone.

**(Emma's POV)**  
I wake up and am a little disoriented at first. I sit up and see that Scott is no longer here and the TV is off. I straighten up the blankets and pillows and head back upstairs. I walk into the kitchen and am blinded by the light of the windows. "Wow, it's so bright." I say.  
Kirstie looks at me and smiles, "Morning, sleepyhead."  
I grab a glass and get some orange juice and sit down at the table in front of Kirstie.  
"Kirstie, I was thinking about it and I'm going to grab my stuff and move over to the guest room. I don't want to intrude on you and Avi." I say.  
"Sorry about that, Em. I feel awful. I should have just gone to Avi's room." Kirstie says.  
"I saw that you fell asleep downstairs this morning, I fell asleep down there the other day, that couch is so comfortable," Kirstie says.  
I look at her and ask, "You came down there this morning?"  
She smiles and says, "Yep, and I saw you and Scott."  
I feel my cheeks get warm and look down at the table to try and hide my face. I look at her and say, "It was innocent. Nothing happened. We just watched TV."  
She says, "I know, I already grilled Scott about it."  
I look at her with my mouth opened and say, "Seriously, that's a little mortifying."  
"Nah, he was cool about it. Actually, he didn't really say anything at all." Kirstie says.  
Mitch comes over and sits beside me and looks at me and smiles. I shake my head and smile. Mitch and Kirstie share a glance and then Mitch turns to me and says, "Emma, how are you doing?"  
I look at Mitch and say, "Okay, I think." I'm wondering if I'm about to get the third degree.  
Mitch and Kirstie keep looking at each other and then at me. I look at them and say, "You know I'm sitting right here."  
Mitch says, "We know, Sweetie. I'm just happy to have you here this week." He gives me a hug leaning over in his chair. I stand up and look at Kirstie, "Is your bedroom safe? I need to go get my stuff."  
Kirstie jumps up, "I'll go get it; I'll bring it the guest room for you."  
I laugh and say, "I can help."  
We head to her bedroom. I see that Scott's door is closed as we walk by. We head into Kirstie's room and I see Avi still sleeping in the bed. I slowly get all of my stuff together and we head out into the hall.

**(Scott's POV)**  
I head back out to the kitchen to get more coffee. I see Mitch sitting watching some SpongeBob. I pour my coffee and sit beside Mitch on the couch. I ask, "Where's Kirstie?"  
"She's helping Emma pack all her stuff," Mitch says.  
"What, she's leaving!?" I ask.  
Mitch looks at my face and laughs. "You should see your face. Emma is not leaving the house; she's moving her stuff over to the guest room."  
I try to play it off and say, "Yea, I knew that."  
"No, you clearly did not." Mitch says.  
Shortly afterwards, we see Emma and Kirstie bring her stuff to the other bedroom. Mitch starts laughing again. I nudge him and say, "Stop it."  
Kirstie stops and says, "What did we miss?"  
Emma looks at me and smiles. I can't help but smile back. Mitch starts to talk and I cover his mouth with my hand. Kirstie says, "Come on, Em, let's go, they are being silly boys right now."  
Emma walks out of the room and I let go of Mitch's mouth.  
"Mitch," I say.  
"Scott, I'm sorry, I won't tease you. I've just never seen you like this." Mitch says.

**~~~Fast forward to the afternoon~~~**

**(Emma's POV)**  
We all headed to the beach. It is beautiful and it'll give me some time away from my phone. Olivia has been sending messages to me today, even after last night's messages. She must be really sorry. Scott, Kevin, and Avi all run into the water. Kirstie and I sit in the chairs for a bit. We are both relaxing and have our earbuds in and sunglasses on. We have the chairs reclined, so we don't see Avi coming up to us. He shakes his hair all over Kirstie and she jumps. We both laugh.

**(Avi's POV)**  
"Come on, Kirstie, let's get in the water. The water is amazing. It's so clear today." I say leaning down and pulling her up.  
She laughs and says, "Okay, fine. Come on, Em, let's go."  
Emma shakes her head and says, "No, I'll come out in a bit, I want to sit a little bit longer."  
Kristie shrugs and we both head into the water. I pick up Kirstie in my arms and we walk into the water and Kirstie looks at me and tells me, "You better not throw me."  
I smile and say, "I would never do that." I place her in the water and lean into her and kiss her. We hug and then we head over to where the guys are.

**(Scott's POV)**  
I see Emma sitting on the beach by herself and I wonder why she didn't come in. I look over at Kirstie and say, "Why didn't Em come in?"  
Kirstie said, "I don't know, she just wanted to sit on the beach some more."  
Kirstie then smiles and says, "Maybe you should go ask her to come in, I bet she would say yes."  
I splash Kirstie which starts an all-out splash war. I swim away and Kevin and I enjoy the waves a bit. I can't help but glance back over at Emma. I look around and see that everyone seems busy talking. I slowly walk over to the beach chairs and towels. I sit on one of the towels near the chair that Emma is sitting in. I look over and say, "Emma, why aren't you coming into the water?"  
She looks over at me and says, "I will, I was just soaking up some sun. You forget, I don't get to see beaches all the time."  
I stand up and say, "Come on, then. Let's go."  
We walk into the water and Kirstie says, "Yay, Emma!"  
Emma then walks behind me because I guess she knew what was coming. She shielded herself behind me and Kirstie and Avi splash us like crazy. I hear Emma laughing behind me and I turn around and grab her waist and pull her in front of me.  
"You are not missing out on this," I say.  
"No, Scott, I don't want to get splashed," Emma laughs.  
Emma falls back into the water and swims a little bit away. I swim towards Avi to get him back.  
We have a great time at the beach and all decide to head back to the house to get some food.

**(Third Person POV)**  
Everyone heads back inside and gets showered and changed. Meanwhile, they have two visitors outside the door, Olivia and Jeremy. They both are sitting on the front steps waiting for the gang to come back. They aren't sure where they are. You can't see the beach from the front of the house. Jeremy and Olivia are talking. Olivia thinks that Jeremy is very kind and sweet. Jeremy thinks that it was rude that Emma had her leave like that. Meanwhile, inside, everyone is in the kitchen laughing and getting some food. Emma looks at her phone and says, "Oh God."  
Scott looks at her and says, "What's wrong?"  
Emma looks at the group all in the kitchen searching for Kirstie's face and motions for her to come to her. Kirstie walks over and Emma shows her the text message she just got.

_Text Message:_  
_Em, it's me again. We really need to talk. I'm waiting outside the house. I'm here with a Jeremy. We decided to just wait for y'all to get back. _

Kirstie looks shocked and they head over to the front door and peek through the peep hole. Kirstie puts her hand over her face to let Emma see now. Emma has the same reaction. The guys all come round to the living room and Avi says, "K, what is it?"  
"Jeremy." Kirstie says.  
"And Olivia." Emma says.

**To Be Continued…**


	11. Chapter 11

**(Emma's POV)**  
I look at Kirstie and say, "I'm going to go out there and talk to Olivia. I'll tell Jeremy to leave. Keep everyone else in here. I don't want a fight started." I look back at everyone and head outside. I walk outside onto the porch. I see Olivia and Jeremy talking and they both stop and look up at me.  
Olivia stands up and runs to me and hugs me. "Em, I'm so sorry, please, forgive me." I pull away and say, "Okay, just let me breathe." I smile because this is the Olivia I know.  
I look at Jeremy and give him a look, "What are you doing here?"  
Jeremy looks at me and goes in for a hug and I step back. He tries his best puppy dog eyes on me and says, "Hey Em, I'm here to see your cousin. Is she here?"  
I cross my arms in front of me and say, "Excuse me Olivia, please have a seat." I walk towards the front yard to talk to Jeremy. We walk all the way to his car and I look back at him and say, "Jeremy, I know everything. You are not welcomed here at all. You are lucky it's me who is out here. The things you said to Kirstie were horrible."  
Jeremy kicks at the ground and puts his hands in his pockets and says, "I just want to talk to her."  
"Didn't you try that already, how did that end for you?" I say firmly.  
"Not so good, but if I could just get her away from this group, she would see that she's better with me," he says.  
I seriously cannot believe this guy, he is so mental. I look at him and I make sure that he's looking me in the eye. I tell him, "Look, Jeremy, we have known each other for what, four years or so, you have got to move on. I know you and you are not this stalker crazy guy. Underneath, you are a decent human being, so act like one. Leave Kirstie alone or I think that they are going to call the cops. She is happy now, let her be happy. Go back home."  
He looks at me and steps back and starts to yell at me, "What do you mean she's happy now, is she with Scott? Did they finally start dating? I knew it. I knew it! God, I hate that guy, he's always right there!"  
I shake my head and say, "You would think that, wouldn't you. Just go home Jeremy. She doesn't want to see you and she's not coming out to see you. If anything, someone else will and it won't be her."  
He looks at me and yells, "Is that a f-ing threat or something!" Jeremy pushes me back into his car. I stand up and rub my arm and hold back my tears. I have clearly struck a nerve and now I step back trying to figure out what to do. I look to Olivia and mouth, help. He senses my fear and takes advantage of it. He steps towards me and I step back once more. He yells, "You better go get her, now! I'm not leaving without her!"  
Olivia, who has been sitting in a chair this whole time, goes into the house. She looks at the group who are all in the living room with such concern on her face. She tells them, "Someone needs to come out here now, Jeremy just pushed Emma into his car," Olivia says.  
Within seconds, the entire Pentatonix group leaves the house. They run down the steps and are within a foot of Jeremy and me. Jeremy's back is to the house and I see Scott, Avi, Kevin, Mitch, and Kirstie all standing there.  
Jeremy continues to yell at me, in his little crazy mental world, not realizing who was standing behind him, "Look, B!tch, you better go get your f-ing cousin right now, if you know any better! She's coming back home with me!" I walk toward the group, mainly Scott, but Jeremy thinks that I am walking towards him and he pushes me back against his car again, this time a little bit harder than before.  
"What the hell do you think you are doing?!" Scott yells as he steps forward grabbing Jeremy's arms.  
Kevin, Avi, and Mitch all stand beside Scott. Kirstie pulls out her phone and calls the cops immediately. I pull myself up and run over to Kirstie and Olivia, I didn't think that I would be so happy to see Olivia.

**(Scott's POV)**  
I am completely disgusted by Jeremy. I feel a rage inside of myself. How dare he push Emma, I could punch him in the face right now. I don't because he's not worth it to me. I hear Kirstie calling the cops and I'm going to make sure that Jeremy is here when they arrive. Jeremy looks at me and snatches his arms out of my hold and we surround him. Four against one jerk, sounds about right to me. I look over and see that the girls are all on the porch. I look back at Jeremy and he's giving me an evil glare. Jeremy finally speaks and looks at me and says, "You happy now, Hoying, you finally got the girl!" I'm confused.  
"What are you talking about?" I say.  
"Kirstie, you know, the love of my life. You stole her away from me!" he yells.  
I shake my head, knowing he clearly doesn't even know about Avi. I'm not telling him and I glance over at Avi. He shakes his head. I don't say anything else to Jeremy. The cops show up about five minutes later and arrest Jeremy. They talk with Kirstie and then with Emma. They ask Emma if she needs medical assistance and she declines. Emma presses charges so that they can put an restraining order on him. Jeremy leaves in the back of the cop car and his car is towed. The cops said that they will keep an eye on the house. Once he makes bail, he'll be free, but we have a restraining order on him now and he can't be within 1000 feet of any one of us.  
We all head inside and I finally get a chance to check on Emma. She's sitting outside on the deck with Olivia. I look at Olivia and ask if I can talk to Emma. Olivia looks at me and smiles and says, "Sure, Scott." She then looks at Emma and says, "Thanks for letting me get a chance to apologize."  
Olivia walks by me and I'm happy that she seems somewhat normal now.  
Emma looks at me as I sit down beside her and I look at her and say, "Are you okay, Em?"  
"Yea, I'm good, thanks," she says, "I'm thankful for Olivia today and for all of you."  
"Yes, I'm glad Olivia was here too, I wouldn't want anything to happen to you," I say.  
"Me neither," she laughs.  
I smile and give her a hug. She hugs me back and I feel her start to cry. I pull her into me and rub her back. I know that she was scared and the emotions are just getting to her. She was probably in shock. I let her cry and I don't say anything. I just sit there and rub her back and hug her. She finally stops and sits back and says, "Sorry about that. I guess I needed to get that out."  
"No worries, Em. Come on, let's go inside." I say standing up.  
Emma looks at me and says, "Okay."

**(Kirstie's POV)**  
I see Olivia come back into the room and I walk over to her. Now is a good time to clear the air between me and her. I smile and say, "Thank you Olivia for coming in and getting us. I don't know what Jeremy would have done to Em if you didn't do that."  
Olivia says, "It's what anyone would have done. I knew that I couldn't take him, but knew that y'all were in here; I was just hoping that you wouldn't be far. I was so relieved to open that door and see all five of you right here."  
"Me too," I say.  
Olivia reaches for my hand and says, "I'm so sorry for what I did. I'm sorry for going through your closet and making that rude comment. You are so beautiful and to be honest, you are smaller than me. I don't know why I said that. I just get jealous sometimes and I turn into a jerk. I'm so sorry."  
I remember the comment and her behavior said, "I forgive you. Are you going to stay now?"  
Olivia nods and says, "Yes, if that's okay with you. Emma said that I had to ask you. You were the one who would decide."  
I nod and say, "It's fine, you can stay. But, if your crazy side comes out, I'll have to ask you to leave. This is a peaceful home. I think we have had enough drama for one summer." I smile and turn to the rest of the group and say, "Hi everyone, I would like to introduce you all to our new house guest, Olivia."  
Olivia laughs and smiles and says, "Hi, it's nice to meet you all."

**(Mitch's POV)**  
I walk over to Emma as she walks to her room. I give her a hug and see that her eyes are red. "You okay, Emma?"  
"Yea, I'm good, now." Emma says as she walks to the dresser in her room and pulls out her makeup.  
"I just hate crying," she says.  
"No one expects you not to cry. That was scary. I thought that we were going to have to hold Scott back for a second. I don't know if I've ever seen him get that upset," I say.  
"I was glad to have y'all there, I really didn't think that Jeremy would push me into his car once, especially twice," Emma says.  
"How's your back?" I ask.  
"It's okay, can you look at it. I don't want Kristie to see, she'll freak if there's a mark. But, I rather know now." Emma says.  
I say, "Sure, of course." I grab the door and close it and lock it, just in case anyone comes in.  
Emma raises her shirt and I look at her back. There's a long red mark down the side of her back and I press on it and say, "Does this hurt?"  
Emma winces a little bit, but says, "Not too bad, just tender."  
Emma reaches in her purse and grabs some medicine and takes a pill, "This will help. Guess I won't be wearing any bikinis to the beach."  
I smile and say, "Well, you do have really long hair, it might cover it."  
"Oh, let me put my hair down, there, does that cover it?" she asks.  
"Yea, it actually does. So, just keep your hair down at all times," I say with a smile.  
Emma turns around and says, "haha, I'll try."  
We hear someone trying to open the door and then knocking. We laugh and I head to Emma's door and open it and see Kirstie. Kirstie is looking at me puzzled and wondering why Emma and I were in her room with the door locked. I laugh because it's fun to keep people guessing. I turn back to Emma and say, "See ya later, girlfriend."  
Emma smiles and says, "See ya later, boyfriend.

**(Emma's POV)**  
Kirstie walks in and says, "Okay, do I want to know?"  
I laugh and say, "We are just teasing you."  
"But why was the door locked?" Kirstie asks.  
"No reason, it just was. What is going on?" I ask trying to change the subject.  
"Well, I was talking to everyone and we are going to have a movie night, but this time, it's going to be a funny, movie night. No scary movies. We all need to chill and relax," Kirstie says.  
"Sounds good to me, are you okay with Olivia staying? She'll just bunk with me here." I say.  
"Well, that is unless you decide to have another all-night cuddle session with Scott," Kirstie said with a smirk.  
"Kirstie," I say.

_**Fast forward - movie night -**_

**(Third person – POV)**  
Everyone heads downstairs and start looking through all of the movies. Olivia is impressed with the studio and Emma tells her that she got to hear the group sing some songs. Olivia instantly regrets this and tries to hold in her jealously. Hopefully, she'll be able to hear them sing too. The group decides on some funny movies and Kevin sets them up.  
"We are going to start with The Hangover," Kevin says.  
They all settle into the large couch. Avi and Kirstie sit on one side, almost claiming the corner spot as their own. Kevin and Mitch sit beside Avi. Emma goes and sits on the other corner and Olivia looks to Emma as to where to sit. Mitch scoots over and lets Olivia sit between him and Kevin. Olivia gladly sits and smiles because of how friendly everyone is. Scott scoots in beside Emma and everyone starts to watch the movie. They laugh, drink, and eat. They all try and forget the drama of Jeremy and just have a good time.

**(Emma's POV)**  
I look over at Olivia and am glad that she's having a good time. I wanted this for us the first night. I'm glad that she seems to be herself, but I am still cautious. I love that Scott sat by me. Scott is sitting next to Mitch as well. We are all laughing. Scott doesn't try and cuddle with me, but that's okay. It's not really a cuddle type movie. I look over at Kirstie and Avi and they are so curled up with each other, they are so in love, I think to myself. I smile and turn back to the movie. Scott leans over and whispers, "I see you like funny movies better than scary ones." I nod and smile.

**(Olivia's POV)**  
I am surrounded by Pentatonix and I am trying my best not to go completely crazy again. I just love this group so much. Breathe, Olivia, just breathe. The movie finishes and I stand up and say, "Let's play a game."  
"Okay, which one?" Mitch says.  
"Truth or Dare?" I say.  
Everyone laughs, "No, pick a different one." Avi says.  
"Okay, how about Heads Up, that app game," Olivia says pulling out her phone.  
Mitch says, "Yes, okay. That'll be fun!"  
We break into teams and play until we are all rolling on the floor laughing so hard. We end up playing charades as well. After about two more hours of drinks and games, I stand up and say, "I'm going to bed, thanks everyone for letting me stay. Who wants to tuck me in? I'm kidding." I laugh as I head upstairs.

**(Avi's POV)**  
I lean into Kirstie's ear and say, "Do you want company tonight?"  
She turns to me and says, "Of course, but I hate that your room is not being used?"  
It's being used and I say, "That's where all of my clothes are and I shower in there and get ready in there."  
She laughs and says, "Oh, okay. Well, come on, let's go."  
We head upstairs and leave Scott, Emma, Kevin, and Mitch downstairs.

**(Mitch's POV)**  
"I'm tired and I need my beauty sleep, y'all don't stay up too late," I say as I look back at Scott and Emma. I wonder to myself if they are going to have another night down here. I laugh to myself as I walk upstairs. Kevin says good night as well and heads back upstairs.

**(Scott's POV)**  
"You tired?" I ask Emma.  
"Yea, I'm actually pretty tired, it's been a long day," Emma says.  
"Well, don't come back down here after we all go to bed and clean up," I say teasingly.  
"I can't make any promises," Emma says with a smile.  
"Are you going to bed now?" Emma asks.  
"Yea, I might as well try and get some sleep." I say.  
We head upstairs and Emma goes into the kitchen. She grabs a glass of water and asks if I want anything. I shake my head and say, "No, thanks."  
She walks over to me and steps on her tip-toes and gives me a big hug wrapping her arms around my neck. Emma then says, "Good night, Scott. See you in the morning."  
"Good night, Em," I say in her ear as we hug.  
I watch Emma walk to the guest room and I head across the living room to my bedroom.

_**To Be Continued…**_


	12. Chapter 12

_**Next Morning….**_

**(Emma's POV)**  
I wake up early and head into the bathroom and do my routine. I am happy to have all of my stuff today. I look back at Olivia is still out like a light. I go into the kitchen and grab some orange juice and my journal and head up to the loft. I wanted to check it out since I got here. It sits above the living room and there is a spiral staircase leading up to it. It's a small space with two recliners facing the ocean. There are small tables as well. I get settled and look out at the ocean and think what a great place to hide away. I look over my shoulder downstairs and I don't think anyone would even see me. I turn back to the ocean and take in the view, it's so peaceful. I pull out my journal and write about the past few days. It's sad that I'll be leaving in a few days; this week is going so fast. I write my feelings, my true feelings, for Scott. I hear someone coming up the staircase and quickly fold my journal away. I am relieved to see Kirstie.  
"I thought you were up here," Kirstie says.  
"Yea, I was just enjoying the view, it's amazing," I say.  
"So, what do you want to do today?" Kirstie asks.  
"I don't know, we could do anything," I say.  
"So, did you have another evening in the basement sleeping on the couch?" Kirstie asks.  
I laugh and say, "No, I slept in an actual bed, shocking, I know."  
"Just teasing you, cuz. So, any updates on your little crush," Kirstie asks.  
I shake my head no. I look down to make sure that no one is listening. She senses this and says, "No one else is awake, it's okay. It's just you and me," Kirstie says.  
"I just don't know. I find myself liking him more and more each day. I just don't know what to do; I'm leaving in a few days, Kirstie." I say.  
"You never know. Maybe, you can stay longer," Kirstie says with a smile.  
"I need to get back to the camp, I made a commitment," I say.  
"You are so good to those little campers, I hope they know what a treasure they have in you," Kirstie says.

**(Olivia's POV)**  
I get up and see that Emma is gone. I head into the living room and hear talking. I sneak into the hallway where no one can see me. I hear Emma and Kirstie talking. I want to make sure that it's not about me. I hear Emma talking about someone, hmm, I didn't know that she had a crush. Hmm, I wonder who she likes? It couldn't be someone here in the house, would it? I listen more.  
I hear Kirstie say, "Well, if it means anything, I think that he likes you too. He sees you for you."  
I hear Emma respond, "That's sweet, Kirstie, but I don't know about that. I have to just have a good time while I'm here and then we will see what happens."  
Kirstie then says, "You never know, he might just surprise you."  
Emma replies, "You think so?"  
I wonder if I should casually walk into the kitchen now, but I feel that I have been out in the hall too long and now it's awkward. They continue talking and I just have to know who they are talking about. I don't hear Kevin open his door and he practically makes me jump when he says, "Good Morning, Olivia."  
I turn around and say, "Good Morning, Kevin."

**(Kirstie's POV)**  
We hear Olivia almost scream and Kevin saying Good Morning. I share a look with Emma and we both wonder if she was listening to our conversation. We quickly replay the conversation in our head and I think we are okay. I whisper to Emma, "We didn't say a name, we are good."  
Emma looks at me and says, "Good."  
Emma looks over at Olivia from the loft and Olivia can't even look up, she is bright red. I shake my head and look back out at the ocean. Emma and I sit in silence as the others start getting up for the day. We head down and get ready for breakfast.

**(Emma's POV)**  
I walk over to Olivia and ask her point blank, "Were you listening to me and Kirstie talk?"  
Olivia doesn't look at me and just nods no. I roll my eyes and instantly know the truth. I sigh heavily and head into the kitchen. I didn't realize that I left my journal upstairs though.

_**At Breakfast…..**_

**(Mitch's POV)**  
We are all sitting around the table and the TV is on in the background on some cartoons. Some are eating bagels; some are just having cereal today. We have lots of coffee made and we are all pretty quiet. I'm sitting next to Kirstie and Emma. Olivia is sitting beside Emma and on the other side of the table sits, Avi, Scott, and Kevin. We are sitting there and all of a sudden, Emma drops her spoon into her bowl. Everyone looks at her in silence. I look over at her and say, "Everything okay?"  
She looks at Kirstie with a panicked look and Kirstie is saying,"What Em?"  
All of a sudden, Emma gets up from the table as we all watch her. She quickly goes up the staircase to the loft and looks around and picks up a small notebook. She comes back down and sits down with such a relief. She places the notebook in her lap and says, "I'm good, sorry about that."  
I look at her and say, "Okay, you are going to have to share what's in the notebook."  
"Never," Emma says trying to laugh it off.  
Kirstie shakes her head and giggles. Ooooh, Kirstie knows, I'll just ask her later.

**(Emma's POV)**  
I can't believe that I almost left my journal out in the open like that. That could have been humiliating.  
I look around the table and catch Scott's eyes. He smiles and I smile softly and look back at my cereal. Avi speaks up and says, "What are we going to do today, gang?"  
Kirstie says, "They have a music festival down at the pier today, we could go check it out."  
Kirstie shows us her phone and says, "local singers, there will also be arts and crafts, and food and drinks as well." Everyone nods.  
"That sounds like fun, Kirstie," I say.  
Olivia chimes in right with me, "Yes, sounds like fun."  
We all get ready and head off into our rooms in different directions. Before I leave the table, Mitch touches my arm and says, "Can you say for a minute?"  
I notice that Scott sees this, but I don't think much of it.  
Everyone leaves the table and I look at Mitch and say, "What's up, Mitch?"  
Mitch looks at me and says, "Okay, spill it, what's the notebook? I have to know."  
I stand up and laugh and say, "Mitch, let a girl have some privacy. It's just a notebook." I walk away to my room.

**(Mitch's POV)**  
I tried. I was just seeing if she was going to tell me. I walk towards my room and see Scott's door open and he motions for me to come in. I walk in and say, "What's up?"  
"What was that about?" Scott asks.  
"Oh, nothing, I was just trying to see if she would tell me what's in the notebook." I say.  
"What did she say?" Scott asks.  
"Nothing, she wouldn't tell me, you seem interested. Scott Hoying, do you have a crush?" I ask.  
Again, he says nothing; he just smiles and looks away. He's so mysterious about who he likes, it bugs me sometimes.

**(Scott's POV)**  
Mitch hates that I don't just spill all of my thoughts out into the open. I don't really know what's going on with me. I just see Emma and want to be with her all the time. I think of her, I dream of her. I need to find a way to talk to her privately and just see what's she's thinking. Maybe this is all just me.  
We head out to the pier and everyone is happily talking. I hang in the back of the group and walk. Avi comes up to me and walks with me. I look over at him and say, "How are things with you and Kirstie?"  
He smiles and says, "So good. I wish I made a move so much sooner. I didn't know how happy I could be. How about you?"  
"I'm good," I say.  
"Really, you seem really quiet today," Avi says.  
"The Jeremy thing got to me, that's all," I say.  
"Yea, that was messed up. Well, time for some fun, Scott," Avi says with a smile.  
We get to the pier and eat and drink and listen to the different musicians. We all have sunglasses on and hats, so we aren't that easily recognized. We sort of hide in the back of the crowds.  
We are thrilled that no one recognized us for once so that we could remain at the house in secret.  
Olivia came up to me while we were all listening to this great musician, Shelley June. She looped her arm and said, "Thanks for letting me stay with y'all at the house."  
I look at her oddly and say with a smile, "I thought it was Kirstie's call, so you should thank her."  
Olivia grips my arm now with both hands and says, "I know, but, you are the unofficially leader, right?"  
I think to myself, is Olivia seriously flirting with me. Great. Not.  
I try to pay attention to the singer and Olivia keeps asking me questions about everything for some reason. I look over at Emma who is staring at me strangely. I mouth for her to come over. She shrugs and looks back at the singer. I roll my eyes. Ugh. I kindly look at Olivia and say, "Can I have my arm back now? I'm going to go check on Mitch."  
Olivia says, "Um, okay. See you later, cutie."  
I walk over to Mitch thinking, did she just call me cutie, good grief.

**(Mitch's POV)**  
I see Scott heading over to me and he looks annoyed. I can't help but smile because I have a feeling why. I just sat back and saw Olivia ask Scott twenty questions with her arms wrapped around him. I laugh as Scott gets closer and he nudges me, "Shut up."  
I laugh harder and say, "Looks like you have a fan."  
He shakes his head and I see him look for Emma.  
"She's not here," I say.  
"Who?" he asks.  
"Em, I'm not an idiot." I say.  
"I never said you were," he says and then asks, "Where is she?"  
"Bathroom break, she took Kirstie." I say pointing over to the public restrooms at the end of the pier.  
Scott looks over and then back at the singer and we listen to the rest of her set.  
Olivia finds her way back over to us and I nudge Scott with a warning. He whispers in my ear, "Save me."  
I laugh and see Olivia and grab her elbow and bring her up the pier to another artist. I turn back at Scott and smile. He mouths, "Thank you".

_**Later that afternoon… back at the beach…**_

**(Third Person – POV)**  
Everyone had a great time at the music festival. Everyone is changing and getting ready to go to the beach.

**(Emma's POV)**  
I walk over to Mitch's door and knock and he lets me in. I look at him and say, "Can you look at my back again?"  
He nods and proceeds to lock his door again. I turn around and take off my cover up, I have my swimsuit on. I put my hair down and then pull it away from my back to the front of me. He makes a noise and I turn around and say, "What, does it look bad?"  
He gets a mirror so that I can see for myself. We go into his bathroom and he turns me facing him to where my back is facing the mirror. He holds a hand held mirror to my face and I can see the mark now. I sigh, "Wow, that looks bad." I look at the long mark that is now turning purple.  
"Does it hurt at all? If anything, at least, it's not as long as last night. It's just purple now. We should ice that." Mitch says.  
"Not too bad, there's some discomfort. But, I'll just take some Ibuprofen; I'll ice it some later." I say.  
"I can't let Kirstie see my back." I say. I turn to Mitch, "Promise Mitch, you won't say anything."  
Mitch promises and then we hear once again, someone trying to come into a room where we have locked the door. We look at each other and laugh. "The things that people must be thinking."  
I pull on my cover up quickly and Mitch unlocks the door and Scott stands there. He looks to Mitch and then to me and says, "Okay, I'm not going to ask, just wanted to see if you were ready to go to the beach."  
Scott walks away and Mitch turns to me and says, "I'm in trouble, now." We giggle and head down the hall. I walk up beside Scott and smile and he smiles back, but still has a confused look in his eyes.

**(Scott's POV)**  
Okay, that was odd. Why in the world was Mitch locked in his room with Emma. I'll ask him later. I don't want to come off as someone who gets jealous, but it was odd. I smile at Emma when she smiles back and we all head to the beach. We have all of the chairs set up today with two umbrellas. We all head into the water, except for Emma. She sits back at the beach and I wonder why. I walk over to her and see that she still has her cover up wrapped around her. I sit down beside her and say, "You coming in?"  
"Yea, just waiting a bit," Emma says.  
"Okay," I say. I get up and walk into the beach and we all are swimming around.

**(Mitch's POV)**  
Poor Emma, sitting there all by herself, trying to hide that mark. I don't know why she doesn't want to show Kirstie. Kirstie won't be mad at Emma. She might be upset at Jeremy, but, we all knew that there was going to be some mark, I mean, we all saw him push her into his car. I yell over to Emma, "Come in, Emma."  
She smiles and says, "Okay."

**(Emma's POV)**  
Okay, enough is enough. I'll just hurry and get in. My hair will cover my bruise on my back. I walk in slowly and walk up to everyone. We are all about waist deep. Scott looks at me and smiles and says, "About time."  
He then splashes me and I scream with laughter. I splash him back and then Avi starts splashing Kirstie and me. We splash him back. I fall into the water and swim a little bit towards Mitch and I forget about my back for just a second. I stand up and pull my hair to the side and hear a loud, "Oh my god," from Kirstie. I hear Scott say, "Emma!" I look at Mitch and drop my head. I drop my hair and turn around and walk over to Kirstie and Scott both.  
"Kirstie, Scott, it's okay." I say.  
"What the hell, Emma, turn around," Kirstie said. She pulled my hair away from my back and inspected my back as the others came over to look. "Is this from yesterday, oh my God, are you okay?"  
"Yes, it's just a little mark," I say pulling away from her hold. I turn towards her and I see the pain in her face. It's the same pain I see in all of their faces, especially Scott.  
"It's not just a little mark," Scott says.  
"Let's go back to having fun, okay?" I say.  
Kirstie doesn't say anything; she almost looks like she is going to cry.  
Mitch says, "Kirstie, I've been looking at it, it does seem smaller than last night."  
Kirstie turns to Mitch and says, "Seriously, you let Mitch see it, but not me."  
"Because I knew you would react this way," I say.  
I walk over to Kirstie and hug her and say, "I'm okay, really. It doesn't even hurt."  
She places her hand on the bruise and pushes in and I try not to wince, but I can't help it.  
"Well, don't touch it," I say pulling away.  
"Emma, I'm so sorry, this is my fault," Kirstie says. She's crying now. Avi comforts her and I feel awful.  
I should have just stayed on shore.

**To Be Continued…**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

(Avi's POV)

"Kirstie, it's not your fault," I say as I put my arm around her to console her.

She looks at me and says, "Yes, it is. Jeremy came looking for me; I should have gone out there."

"Em was just trying to protect you. None of us had any idea that we would hurt her," I say.

I look up and see Emma walking over to Kirstie and me. I smile as she comes closer.

(Emma's POV)

I walk over to Kirstie and say, "Don't get upset, I'm sorry that I didn't show you my back. I just didn't want you to get upset."

Kirstie looks at me with a frown and says, "I'm so sorry, Em."

"It's fine, really, I'm okay," I say.

"You need to ice that," Kirstie says.

"Will it make you feel better? I will go do it now," I say.

She nods and I head towards the house. Olivia asks if I need any help and I shake my head, "I'm okay, thanks Olivia. You should stay and enjoy the sun and beach." I smile and walk back to the house.

I go inside and go to change into some shorts and a tank top. I put the tank top over my bikini top. I walk back out to the kitchen and look for the large Ziploc bags. I finally find them and fill one up with ice cubes. I try and sit in one of the kitchen chairs and balance the icepack between the chair and my back. It keeps falling, ugh.

(Scott's POV)

I tell the group that I'm going in for a little bit. I head to the house and walk in and see Emma at the table trying to hold an icepack with her back. I shake my head and smile. I walk up to her and say, "How's that working for you?"

She lets the icepack drop and picks it up and places it in front of her on the table, "Not so well. I don't think I need to ice my back that bad, anyway."

I look at her and say, "Come here." I grab the icepack and reach out my hand towards her. I walk her to my room and go to my bed and turn and say, "Lay down."

(Emma's POV)

Okay, now, of course, in my mind, I'm freaking out because my crush, Scott, just told me to lie down on his bed. I am snapped back to the reality of the situation because all he wants to do is ice my back.

"Scott, I don't have to ice my back," I say.

"Em, just lay down, please," Scott says.

I sigh and lie down on my stomach and place my head onto his pillow with my hands underneath the pillow. I instantly smell his cologne in the pillow and am glad I lay down. Scott sits beside me and slowly moves my hair away from my back. He lifts my shirt up (thank God, I still have my bikini top on.) to where he can see the bruise. I feel his fingertip slowly go over the bruise and he placed a small towel on the bruise and then props the ice pack on my back. I look out at the window and watch him move to a chair beside his windows. He smiles and says, "There, just sit there for a little bit."

I smile and say, "Okay, thanks. I was having a hard time."

"I noticed that," Scott says.

"So, how long do I have to sit here with this ice?" I ask.

"About twenty or thirty minutes, I guess," he says.

"I can't believe that I only have a few more days here," I say.

(Scott's POV)

That's right; Emma is leaving at the end of the week. I haven't even told her how I feel yet. I can't really tell her now; it's not the right time. I look at her and we sit there staring at each other. I look into her beautiful eyes. I finally say, "I wish you were staying longer."

"I do too," she says.

"Why don't you, you could always go back to your camp later on this summer," I say hopeful.

"I don't know, I don't want to intrude on y'all's vacation, this is your time," Emma says.

"You wouldn't be intruding, you would be welcomed to stay," I say with a smile.

"What about Olivia?" Emma says with a smirk.

"She can go back home," I say back teasing.

"I thought that you two were getting closer for some reason," Emma says.

"Why would you think that?" I ask.

"Earlier today, at the pier, it just looked like y'all were getting really close, that's all," Emma says.

"No, she had attached herself to me and was grilling me on all of the questions. Mitch saved me. I was looking for you, actually," I say.

"How's your back," I ask.

"Cold," Emma says.

I get up and put a blanket over her legs and lower back, but not covering the ice. I ask, "Is that better?"

"Yea, thanks." Emma says.

I move to sit beside her and I start to rub her head slightly. I do this for about twenty minutes or so, just enjoying the closeness of Emma. I look out towards the window and look at the ocean. I look back at Emma and see that she's asleep. I smile and she looks so peaceful. I slowly get up and move the ice. I look at her back and slowly pull her shirt back down and pull the blanket over her. I lean down and kiss her cheek and leave my room. I slowly close the door and head out into the living room.

At the Beach…

(Kirstie's POV)

I look over at Avi and say, "We should all do something fun tonight, go out and have a good time."

"Yes, that would be great, Kristie. We should do that." Avi says.

I wrap my arms around Avi's waist and say, "Have I ever told you how lucky I am to have you in my life?"

"No," Avi says.

"But, I'm the lucky one, I have you," Avi says with a small kiss.

"You are too good to me," I say.

"You deserve the best," Avi says.

(Olivia's POV)

I am having a blast at the beach with Mitch, Kirstie, Kevin, and Avi. However, Scott and Emma are both gone. I go sit for a bit in the sun and look for my phone. I accidently knock over Emma's bag and pick it back up and see a small notebook in it. It wouldn't hurt to have just a quick little look. A little peek. I look over at Avi and Kirstie and they are in their own little world and barely notice me. Kevin is still in the ocean trying to surf the waves. I look at Mitch and he is coming over to sit out in the sun. He sits and puts his earbuds in and closes his eyes. I look quickly and read as much as my eyes will allow. I get to the last page and am floored by what I read. Emma actually likes Scott, like really likes him. That's completely crazy. Why does she think she has a chance with him? I'll have to make a move on Scott before she does. I see Mitch rise up and look over at me and I smile my biggest grin. "Hi Mitch," I say.

Mitch looks at me and says, "Hi Olivia, what are you reading?"

"Nothing, nothing at all," I say as I throw the notebook into Emma's bag. I stand up and grab Emma's bag, my bag, and look over at Mitch, Kirstie, and Avi and say, "I'm going to go in now."

"Okay, we'll come in soon," Avi says.

I walk quickly to the house and try not to look back behind me. I'm just hoping that Mitch didn't see me read the journal.

(Mitch's POV)

I look over at Kirstie, "Hey Kirstie, I think that we are about to have world war three on our hands."

Kirstie looks at me and says, "What happened now?"

"I just caught Olivia reading that notebook Emma had in her lap earlier today," I say.

"You think that it was the same one, you think that she would actually do that?" Avi asks.

"Yes, I recognized it from earlier. We better head back," I say.

(Scott's POV)

I'm sitting in the living room looking at my phone enjoying a little peace and quiet.

I hear the sliding glass door and see Olivia. I sigh a little to myself. She smiles and continues onto the guest bedroom. She comes right back out and says, "Where is Emma?"

"She's in my room, why?" I ask.

"She's in your room, really?" Olivia asks.

"Why?" she adds with such a shocked tone.

"She fell asleep, I was helping her with her back," I say.

"Well, I'll just go check on her," Olivia says.

"Just let her sleep," I say trying to avoid anyone waking Emma up.

"Okay, I guess," Olivia says and then practically sits right on top of me, almost. She sits right next to me to where we are literally touching. I look around the room at the six other locations she could have sat instead. I scoot over a bit to get some space. Olivia starts to rub my arm and smiles at me. I look at her and say, "Olivia, what are you doing?"

She looks at me and smiles and says, "Anything you want me to do."

I think to myself, seriously. I smile and say, "Okay."

I just blow it off and maybe she'll get the hint. I get up and Olivia stands too. I tell her, "I'm going to go get ready for tonight. Avi just texted and we are all heading out. I'll see you later, okay."

Olivia winks at me and says, "You bet I will."

I walk away and wonder if those lines ever work for Olivia. She is trying way too hard. I slowly open up my door knowing Emma was probably still napping. I walk over and sit on the other side of Emma on the bed. I touch her cheek and whisper, "Emma."

Emma stirs a little bit.

I lean in and whisper, "Emma."

She opens her eyes and we are inches away from each other. I pull back.

She sits up and says, "Sorry, I must have fallen asleep."

"How's your back feeling?" I ask.

"Better, actually," Emma says sitting up and stretching some. She looks at me and asks, "How long was I asleep?"

"I look at my phone and say, "Almost an hour."

"Wow," she says. She rubs her eyes and says, "That was brave of you to wake me up."

"Why do you say that?" I ask.

"I'm not the happiest person when someone wakes me up, just ask Kirstie." Emma says with a laugh.

"Oh, good to know," I say.

"I have to say, Scott, your bed is so comfortable," Emma says.

"I know, right," I say.

"So, why is it that you woke me up?" Emma asks.

"Oh, sorry, I was going to tell you that we are all going out tonight. We are going out to dinner and then to a karaoke bar." I say.

"Cool. That should be fun. Guess I should go get ready," Emma says standing up.

"Okay, yea, I was going to get ready too," I say standing up as well.

She walks over to me and wraps her arms around my waist and lays her head on my chest. I wrap my arms around her. She says, "Thanks Scott, for your help today with my back. That was really sweet of you."

"It was nothing," I say.

She leans up and kisses me on the cheek and walks out of the room. This girl is driving me crazy. Why can't I just tell her?


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

(Kevin's POV)

Everyone is finishing up getting ready. I head into the living room and announce, "Hey Everyone, it's time to go. I rented a limo for us!"

"What?" Mitch asks.

"Yea, I didn't want us drinking and driving tonight and this way, we can just sit back and have a good time!" I say.

"Thanks Kevin, that's awesome!" Mitch says.

Everyone comes out and we are all looking great! Everyone is smiling, so that's always good too.

We head out to the limo and pile into the car. We head off to dinner.

(Kirstie's POV)

I need to talk to Emma and let her know what Mitch saw. I tried to get Mitch to talk to Emma before we left, but he wanted to wait. He didn't want to ruin the evening, with everything else going on.

I look over at Emma and see that she and Scott are sitting side by side talking. I smile and think that they actually look like they both like each other a lot and I nudge Avi and shoot my eyes to them. Avi leans over and says, "Ah, do you think that he'll actually tell her how he feels about her?"

"I hope so," I say.

"Well, it took us a long time, Kirstie, so, just give it time." Avi says.

"Very funny, Avi," I say.

"I couldn't just come up to you the very first day of meeting you and say, "Hi, my name is Avi, and I think that you are the most beautiful woman I have ever met in my life and I think that I could love you one day."

I turn quickly to Avi and say, "Did you really think that?"

He smiles and kisses me on the cheek and then pulls me for a hug.

I look at Avi and whisper in his ear, "I falling for you more and more every day."

I lean back and he pulls me in for a kiss and we are again, in our own little world.

(Scott's POV)

I'm glad that Emma and I are sitting by each other; I really need to figure out how to tell this girl how I feel. I tease her, "So, are you going to sing a song?"

"I don't know. I might need some liquid encouragement first. You should sing though." Emma says.

"Any special requests?" I say with a smile.

Emma ponders this and says, "Hmmm, I'll have to think about that one."

"Just say the word, I'll sing it." I say.

I lean back and put my hand down and touch Emma's hand. I take hold of her hand and softly run my fingers across her hand and my thumb against her wrist. She looks at me and smiles and leans into me. I lean into her and whisper in her ear, "You look beautiful by the way."

She giggles softly and says, "Thanks Scott, you look great too."

I take her hand and interlock my fingers and raise it up to my lips and kiss her hand gently. I place our hands between us and rest them on my lap.

(Emma's POV)

Oh my goodness! Did Scott just call me beautiful and kiss my hand! Is he actually flirting with me! Breathe Em… Breathe Em….

(Mitch's POV)

I am trying my best to keep Olivia busy with me so that Emma and Scott can have a moment alone, Scott will owe me for this. He might think that he's fooling everyone, but I know he has a thing for Emma. I look over at Olivia and say, "So, have you had a good time today?"

"Yes, Mitch, you know, I might be able to stay for the summer with y'all. I know that y'all will be here for about two months. I think that I can work it out to stay. Don't you think that will be amazing!" Olivia blurts out.

I look around for backup and don't really know how to respond. I feel like Olivia just invited herself to stay for the summer. I look at her as sincerely as I can and I say, "Olivia, I think that a week is good, you know. We are planning on having other guests come and say as well. I'm sorry. But, I think that Saturday, we will need your room back."

I tell you, Olivia seriously, looks me dead in the eye, and says, "Well, I might be a guest in someone's bedroom by then and you'll have your guest room. You never know, Mitch, I might find love in this house."

I look at Olivia like she has two heads. I sit back and laugh and say, "I have to hand it to you, you definitely don't give up, do you?"

"Never," Olivia says almost in a scary tone.

I laugh nervously and glance over at Scott and Emma. I see Scott kiss Emma's hand and in that moment, I know that my thoughts are true. He is totally smitten. I knew it.

At Dinner…

(Third Person POV)

Everyone piles around the table. Scott pulls the chair out for Emma and she sits. He sits beside her. Then Olivia runs over and sits right beside him. Mitch sits next to Emma and Kristie, Avi, and Kevin sit across the table. The waitress comes by and takes everyone's order. They eat and enjoy each other's company. Kirstie motions for Emma.

(Kirstie's POV)

"Em," I say.

Emma looks up and smiles and says, "What?"

"Can I talk to you?" I say.

Emma follows me to the bathroom and we talk. I make sure that we are alone and we sit on the sofa in the lounge area of the restroom.

Emma looks at me nervously, "You are scaring me, what's going on?"

"I have to tell you something, but I don't want to you get upset," I say.

"Just tell me," Emma says.

"I think that Olivia read your journal earlier today when you left to go to the house. She was reading it and Mitch saw her. She denied it at the time, but, just be careful." I say.

"Do you really think that she read it?" Emma says.

"Well, if she read it, then she knows my secret," Emma added.

"I don't think that she will say anything, I just wanted you to know," I say.

"On the other hand, you and Scott seem to be different?" I ask.

"I don't know, something just kind of clicked, we haven't said anything out loud, but we are definitely getting closer," Emma says with a smile.

"I'll talk to Olivia later, I want to have fun tonight," Emma says.

"Sounds good to me, I'm going to head back to the table. See you in a few," I say.

I head back to the table so Emma could freshen up. We were only gone for a few minutes. When I came back to the table, I was surprised to see Olivia practically sitting in Scott's lap. I shoot a look over to Scott who is trying to get out of the situation. "Olivia, did you lose your seat?"

She turned to me laughing saying, "No, I was just taking a selfie with Scott."

Scott moves Olivia off his lap and says, "Okay, Olivia, you got your photo."

Scott didn't seem pleased and I looked at Olivia knowing exactly this little game she was playing. The girls and the games they play. That was no way of getting any guy. Thank God it was me to came to the table first and not Emma.

(Olivia's POV)

Scott will open up to me eventually. He'll see just how cute we are when I post this photo to twitter. I post the photo to twitter and tag Scott with #myboy. I put my phone back in my purse and I wait for him to see. I know that he will love the photo.

(Mitch's POV)

I feel my phone buzz and I pull it out and Kirstie says, "No phones at dinner."

I tell her, "Okay, I'll put it away."

It's a little rule we have for dinner, no phones. I see Emma come back to the table and I smile. She smiles too and she looks really happy. She sits by Scott who seems very happy that she's back.

(Scott's POV)

"Thank goodness you are back," I say reaching for Emma's hand.

"I was only gone for a few minutes, what did I miss?" Emma says.

"You don't even want to know," I say.

(Third Person POV)

The food arrives and everyone enjoys the meal and orders drinks. Everyone relaxes a bit and shares stories from the tour. They are all laughing and having a great time. They pay the bill and head back into the limo and head off to the Karaoke bar. They arrive and are all pumped and excited to sing some songs. They grab a table down in front and Mitch starts it off. He stands up and does a great version of, I Will Survive. The entire bar sings along and Mitch gets a standing ovation.

(Emma's POV)

I lean over to Scott, "So, what are you going to sing for me?"

Scott smiles and says, "Did you pick a song?"

"You pick one, I like anything you sing." I say.

Scott walks up to the mic and tells the DJ what he wants. He starts to sing, All of Me.

I can't help but smile at his beautiful voice. I feel like he's singing just to me. We lock eyes throughout the song and I feel my heart race.

Kirstie nudges me and whispers, "I think it's safe to say, he has a thing for you."

I continue to listen to the song and when he's done, we all stand and cheer. He comes up to me and I say, "That was amazing, Scott."

He leans into me and says, "It was for you."

I smile and wrap my arm around his waist.

(Olivia's POV)

Okay, so, Scott sang this song, All of Me, and it seemed that he was looking at Em the whole time. This was going to tough; I think that I should be with him, not her. I know what I'm going to do; I'll just show Em the little photo I took. Scott didn't know it at the time, but I made a kissy face towards him. We look like we are together in the photo. Emma will see the picture and know that I'm the one who should be with him.

(Mitch's POV)

My phone buzzes again and I look at it this time. It's a text from Scott's sister, Zoey.

Text Message:

Who is the girl in Scott's picture with the #myboy?

I look at Twitter really quick and look at the picture and pull Scott aside.

"Scott, come here now," I say.

Scott looks at me and says, "I was having a moment, what is it?"

I show him my phone and he looks at it. He rolls his eyes and there is a photo of Olivia making a kissy face towards Scott with the #myboy. "Seriously, this girl must be stopped."

(Scott's POV)

This really pisses me off. Olivia had no right to post a photo of me on twitter like that making people think that we are together. I turn and see Olivia sharing her photo, the one that I just saw, with Emma.

To Be Continued…


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

(Olivia's POV)

I call Emma over to me and share my photo with her. "Emma, look, aren't Scott and I so cute together?"

Emma looks at me confused and says, "What?"

"Yea, look at this photo." I say with a smile. I look up and see Mitch and Scott talking and now Scott is looking at me with a pissed look in his eyes.

Emma looks at me and says, "When did you take this?"

"Tonight, at dinner, we just had to get a photo together, you know. Don't you think that we are cute together? I think that I've been able to get to know him so well you know. I know it's only been a couple of days, but I feel that we are so close already," I say. I'm hoping that Emma will take this as a hint that Scott should be with me and not her.

Emma looks very confused at this point and she looks at me and then at Scott and then back at me and says, "What are you talking about?"

I look at her with a look of sympathy and say, "Emma, look, I see that you like Scott, but I think that he's really not into you that much, I mean, y'all grew up together, he sees you as a little kid still, you are just a normal girl. I actually think that he's into me. I mean if he were into you, would he let me take a selfie from his lap? He actually insisted that I sit in his lap. I'm sorry Emma."

Emma almost looks hurt by this comment. I try to smile, but she turns quickly and walks back to the table with Kirstie and Avi.

(Scott's POV)

I look up and see Emma and Olivia talking and I see Olivia showing the photo to Emma. I can only imagine what she is saying. I walk up to Olivia and say, "We need to talk, now."

Olivia looks at me with this overly sweet face and voice and says, "Sure, sweetie."

We walk to the front lobby and I turn and face her and say, "Olivia, I need you to delete that tweet."

"Which one?" she says.

"You know very well which one. You had no right to do that. You posted that to make it seem like we are together, why would you do that?" I say crossing my arms in front of me.

"I thought that we look so cute together, I thought that you would find it funny," Olivia says.

"Am I laughing?" I say.

"No, fine, I'll delete it," Olivia says.

She pulls out her phone and deletes the tweet and I look at her and say, "The photo too."

"God, I can't even keep the photo, I took it," Olivia says.

"No," I say.

She finally deletes the photo and says, "Well, maybe the next one will be better."

(Emma's POV)

I walk over to the table feeling my buzz leaving me. I sit down and drink some water and Kirstie looks at me and asks, "Em, what's wrong?"

I shake my head and feel a tear fall down my face. I quickly wipe it away. Kirstie reaches for my arm and says, "Tell me, what happened?"

I lean into her and tell her everything that Olivia just told me. I wipe my tears and just want to go and hide. Kirstie sits back with a shocked look, "Seriously, I need to go talk to that girl."

"No, K, don't. It's not important anymore, I feel foolish," I say.

"But, Emma, you aren't foolish. I truly believe that Scott likes you," Kirstie says.

"Kirstie, I think that I'm going to leave tomorrow, I'm going back to the camp early," I say.

"No, you can't," Kirstie says.

"I can't be here anymore, I feel like a complete fool. I feel so stupid. I feel so hurt," I say.

"You can't believe a single word that little brat said to you, she is just jealous," Kirstie says.

"Please, just stay here, I'll be right back," Kirstie says as she turns to Avi who has been trying not to listen to our conversation. She whispers something to him and she gets up and leaves the table. I go to stand up and feel Avi's hand on mine.

"Emma, sit here, just for a little bit, okay," Avi says.

I sit down and say, "Okay."

Avi calls over to Mitch and says, "Sing us another song, Mitchie, this one for Emma."

Mitch jumps up and says, "Of course."

Mitch goes to the podium and tells the DJ a song he wants to sing. He starts singing, We Are Young. I love this song and smile as I sit back and listen to Mitch.

Meanwhile… in the lobby….

(Kristie's POV)

I walk to the lobby and see Scott and Olivia talking. I walk right up to her and say, "What the hell kind of game are you playing?"

Scott looks at me a little shocked.

Olivia tries to look at me all innocent and say, "Hey Kirstie, what's up?"

"Save the lies for someone else, I see right through you," I say.

"What lies," Olivia says trying to smile her way out of this situation.

"Oh, so I guess you won't mind if I tell Scott what you said to Emma?" I say.

Olivia looks worried for the first time in this whole conversation. She turns to Scott and then back to me. Scott speaks up and says, "Olivia, what did you say to Emma? Or, better yet, Kirstie, what did she say to Emma?"

"Hurtful lies, lots and lots of hurtful lies. She basically told Emma that you saw her as a little kid still, and that you insisted on her sitting in your lap to take that photo, how you could never be into someone like Emma, a normal girl, because, get this, Scott, she said that you were into her," I said as I crossed my arms in front of me.

"Did I miss anything?" I ask.

Scott looked at Olivia and said, "Did you really say that to Emma?"

Olivia looked embarrassed and I was glad. She should be.

"Scott, I could make you so much happier than Emma. She's boring. I could be lots of fun if you let me show you." Olivia says as she reaches for Scott's arm.

He pulls away and says, "I would never pick you, ever."

"So, what, are you saying that you like Emma?" Olivia asks.

"It's funny that you think that I'm going to talk to you and tell you anything about me," Scott says.

"I think that you should find another place to stay tonight and leave, I don't want you at the house anymore," I say.

Scott agrees and nods.

Olivia says, "But, if it weren't for me, Emma would have been really hurt by Jeremy. I came in to get y'all when she got hurt, remember."

"You are just a sad little mean girl who tries to manipulate every conversation you are in, actually, you and Jeremy have a lot in common," I say.

"Wow, Kirstie, I would never hurt Emma like that," Olivia says.

"Really, because from where I sit, it looks like you pretty much did. Your lies hurt her," I say.

"I'm so over this and so over you, Olivia. Just leave," Scott says as he walks away.

"Bye Olivia," I say walking away over to Scott.

We turn to see Olivia finally leave the bar and I turn to Scott and say, "Okay, it's me and you right now, if you like Emma, like I think you do, you need to go tell her. Because, Scott, she is on the verge of leaving," I say.

Scott looks at me and hugs me and says, "Thanks Kirstie."

(Scott's POV)

I walk over to the table and see Mitch singing, We Are Young. He's doing a great job. I see Emma sitting at the table trying to enjoy the song, but still looking like her best friend just kicked her in the stomach. I sit next to her in the empty seat and place my hand on hers. She turns to me and pulls it away and gets up to walk away. I stand up and follow her. We are in the back corner of the bar and she can't look at me. This hurts me, I know it's not Emma's fault though.

I place my arms on Emma's shoulders and say, "Look at me."

She slowly tilts her head up and I see those beautiful eyes of hers.

"What is it, Scott?" Emma says as she steps back away from my hold.

"I'm sorry for what Olivia said to you, you have to know, it was all lies," I say.

Emma looks at me, "Ah, Kirstie must have found you."

"Yes, and she put Olivia in her place, she's leaving," I say.

"So am I. I'm going to head back in the morning, it's time for me to go," Emma says.

"I want you to stay," I say.

"Scott, I'm just the little kid that grew up around you and Mitch and Kirstie watching y'all sing and make videos," Emma says.

I can tell now that Emma believed the lies and I didn't know how to make her believe me. I do something that I never do, but I want to show her how I feel. I lean into her and we pretty much are leaning against the wall. I wrap my arms around her waist and get closer to her. I lean down and kiss her.

(Emma's POV)

I completely lose myself in his kiss. I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him back. I slowly realize that perhaps, Scott does like me as much as I like him. I smile and we break away.

He looks at me and says, "I don't usually do something like this, but I have wanted to kiss you again since that truth or dare game. I like you so much, Emma."

I smile and say, "I like you too, Scott."

He leans into me again and kisses me again and then kisses me on my cheek and says, "Come on; let's go back to the table."

I reach for his hand and say, "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything," he says.

"Could you ever see yourself with just a normal girl like me?" I say.

"I wish that you could see yourself the way I see you. You are this caring, loving, brave, funny girl with these amazing light gray eyes. You are so beautiful, but you don't even try. So, you ask me if I can see myself with just a normal girl, no. If you ask me if I can see myself with an amazing girl like you, yes, I could easily see that." Scott says.

I am completely taken aback. Scott's not really the one to profess his feelings, so I know that he must be serious. I hold his hand and we walk back to the table.

Kirstie leans over and hugs me and says, "So, I'm guessing you and Scott are good, now?" Kirstie asks.

"You could say that," I say.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Emma receives a text on her phone and she looks at it and sighs. Scott asks, "What is it?"

Emma looks at Scott and says, "It's a text from Olivia; she needs to get into the house and didn't want to text Kirstie or you. She's waiting outside, I'm going to go with her to the house and pack all of her stuff with her. She doesn't really need to be in the house alone anyway."

Scott sighs and says, "Do you want me to go with you? You should not have to deal with Olivia on your own."

"It's alright, I need to talk to her anyway, I have a couple of things that I would like to say to her," Emma said. She looked at her phone and texted Olivia back saying that she would be right out. She leaned over to Kirstie and told her as well and Kirstie said, "What, no, don't go. I'll come with you."

"No, it's fine. I know her and I brought her here to y'all summer vacation and I should be the one to send her officially on her way once again, this is twice now, correct." Emma says with a small laugh.

"You are in a good mood," Kirstie says.

Emma just smiled and said her goodbyes and headed out of the club. The group stayed in the karaoke club and sang some more songs to the delight of everyone.

Olivia was waiting outside the main door and was relieved to see Emma, but now, she just felt that everything was rushing back, and she knew that Emma knew everything by now. Emma walked up to her and said, "Let's go, I want to get this over with as soon as possible."

They got a cab pretty quickly and got in. The cab ride was complete silence and there was an awkwardness there that used not to be. They did used to be best friends, but not anymore, if it was up to Emma. She was pissed off about everything that Olivia did and she was planning on telling her once they got to the house. They arrived at the beach house and the two girls walked slowly up the walkway and headed inside. As they walked back to the guest room, Olivia started pulling all of her stuff onto the bed so that she could pack it all up. Emma went to her bag and grabbed her journal and sat on the bed with it in her hands and waiting for Olivia to look at her and said, "I know you read this."

Olivia turned bright red and tried to say, "I'm sor—".

Emma shook her head and said, "No, that's not going to work this time. I'm over your apologies and I'm over you. You lied to me, hurt me, and tried to ruin the start of a relationship with someone I really like. Who does that? Who treats someone like that? You are just a mean girl. I want to know why. That's all I want to hear from you, I don't care about your sorry."

Olivia stood back and was a little caught off guard with Emma's unleashing of feelings, where was the sweet, nice, Emma who never said a mean thing ever. After swallowing some of her pride, she sat on the bed, and found the truth, for she knew that this was the only thing that could possibly save this friendship if she ever wanted to stay friends with Emma. She looked at Emma and said, "Em, look, here's the truth. I was jealous and I wanted the attention of Scott. I saw that he was into you and I read your journal and knew that it was just a matter of time before y'all got together. It was just a matter of one of you making the first move. I thought that if I could get Scott to notice me, he would go for me. When in reality, he never would have given me the time of day. I know you don't want to hear it, but I am truly sincerely sorry and I don't want to lose your friendship." Olivia wiped the tears that were now falling down her face and Emma thought that this was one of the first times that she saw Olivia cry. But, it didn't really change things for Emma; she was still really hurt by everything. She wanted nothing to do with Olivia.

Olivia then got up from the bed and finished packing her things and said, "How am I going to get back home? I don't have a car."

"I'm going to call a rental car for you so that you can get back home. I'll pay for the rental car until tomorrow because I am the one who drove you out here and it's not right if I don't make sure that you get home." Emma said.

"Thanks Em," Olivia said and then asked, "Do you think that we will ever be friends?"

Emma thought about this and said, "I don't know, not right now. Right now, I know that we will not be friends, but maybe after some time, I just really don't know. I think that I need some space from you to be honest.

"I understand that and I hope that you do believe me when I say that I am sorry," Olivia said.

Emma went to call the rental car place and they were going to bring out a car soon. Olivia came out from the back and had her bags all ready to go. The rental car showed up early, thankfully for Emma. She helped Olivia to the car and she got in and said, "Bye, Em, call me when you get back home."

Emma said, "Bye." She had no intention of calling her when she got home. She was so happy to see the brake lights disappear in the distance.

She walked up to the house and felt a sudden chill like someone was watching her. After turning around and checking out the yard, she darted up the stairs and came into the house and locked the door quickly. Emma texted Kirstie, 'the coast was clear, the wicked witch was gone.'

About twenty minutes later, there was a loud knock at the door. Emma thought it was Olivia, who must have forgotten something. She went to the front door and threw it open and was shocked to see a tall man standing in front of her. She brought the door back some to where she was standing a little bit behind the door and said, "Can I help you?"

The tall man, who was dressed in gray sweatpants and a dark blue long sleeved t-shirt, looked at Emma and said, "Yes, I think that you can, is this where Pentatonix is staying?"

Emma's eyes widen and tried to come up with something quick and said, "Uh, no, I think you have the wrong house?"

The man looked at her strangely and said, "Are you Emma?"

Emma felt her heart beat so hard, she thought for sure that it was going to beat out of her chest. She gripped the door and wanted to shove it close. She remained calm and said, "Do I know you?"

The man smiled and said, "You know what, you are probably right, I think this is the wrong house. Thanks for your help." And with that, the man walked away. Emma closed the door, locked it, and then went to the window. She watched the man walk down the road and realized that he had no car in sight. She was freaked out by this and pulled out her phone and called Scott.

"Hey Em, can you hear me, Kirstie and Mitch are singing in the background," Scott said as he answered his phone.

"Scott, listen, you all have to come back to the house now, please." Emma said with a frightened voice.

"What's wrong, what happened?" Scott asked with concern.

Emma told Scott of the strange man coming to the house and that was enough for him. He rallied the group and they headed back to the beach house.

After a little while, they arrived back home. Emma was waiting inside the door for when they came through and once she saw Scott, she ran into him and realized just how scared she had been.

"Em, it's okay, I'm here now," Scott said as he held her close.

Kirstie came over and hugged her as well and Mitch joined too. Emma smiled and said, "Okay, okay, I can't breathe."

Emma broke free from the group hug and looked at Kevin and Avi who were expecting the windows and looking outside. She said, "I haven't seen him come back, but he knew that y'all were here and knew my name."

Kirstie rolled her eyes and said, "I'm so sorry, Em, okay, so no more answering the doors."

Kirstie called the police officer that helped out with the whole Jeremy thing to just bring it to their attention. After the quick conversation with the police officer, Kirstie said, "Well, there's not much they can do. He said that he would send out a patrol car to park outside for the night though."

Emma said, "Thanks Kirstie."

Later that evening…

The group gradually headed down to the basement, where most of their nights ended up. They liked that they could laugh, sing, watch movies, and carry on, without making a lot of noise because of the sound proof walls. They started watching a movie and everyone seemed to fall into their usual locations on the large sectional couch. Avi and Kirstie stretched out on one of the sides with a pillow and blanket. Kevin and Mitch sat in the middle section while Scott and Emma sat on the other long side. Things were a bit different between Scott and Emma now that they had shared their feelings and some kisses. Emma felt more confident with Scott and cuddled with him instantly as he sat down. Scott smiled and wrapped his arms around Emma. Mitch looked from one side of the couch to the other and then nudged Kevin and said, "Kevin, we are surrounded by love, can you feel it?"

Kevin laughed and broke out into a song, "Can you feel the love tonight?"

Mitch joined in and laughed too.

Everyone laughed and joined in as well.

They settled in and watched the movie and as it got late into the evening, everyone headed to their bedrooms. Avi pulled Kirstie into his bedroom and said, "Would you care to sleep in my room tonight?"

"Sure, let me go change, first." Kirstie said with a quick peck.

Kirstie headed into her bedroom and freshened up and brushed her teeth, washed her face, combed her hair, and changed into some cute pajamas she had. She headed down the hall to Avi's room and knocked softly on the door and he opened the door. He pulled her in and brought her to the bed where he laid her down and kissed her like it was the first time. They fell into their own world for the evening. After a hour or so of kissing, they drifted off to sleep curled up in one another's arms.

Next Morning…

Kirstie woke up early and peeled herself away from Avi and smiled as she left his room. She walked softly down the hall and walked into the kitchen. She saw Emma cooking some breakfast for everyone. Emma smiled and said, "Good Morning, K, I thought that we could use a good breakfast this morning after all of this drama that has been going on."

"I couldn't agree more with you, this looks amazing. I'm surprised that no one has come out here yet." Kirstie says.

"I know, right. Who doesn't wake to the smell of bacon, eggs, biscuits and gravy?" Emma asked teasingly.

"I might go for a quick walk on the beach before everyone gets up, the sunrise looks amazing today. I'll bring my phone so I can take pictures." Kirstie said as she headed back to her bedroom. She changed and headed out and waved bye to Emma. Emma said, "Hurry back, breakfast will be ready in about thirty minutes."

Kirstie smiled and waved and said, "Yea, I'll be back in a few."

Scott came into the kitchen and said, "Wow, I didn't know you could cook."

"There's a lot about me you don't know," Emma said with a smile.

He walked over to her and said, "I look forward to getting to know you more and more." He leaned in and kissed her. He loved that he could just walk up to her and kiss her anytime he wanted too, she didn't mind either. She couldn't believe that Scott was actually kissing her.

She smiled and said, "I could get used to this."

"Stay here with me this summer, please." Scott asked.

"I would love too, but I have to check with my work, I don't know if they will have the staff for the other sessions this summer. You don't think that you'll get tired of seeing me every day?" Emma asked.

"Never ever," Scott said with a small kiss on her forehead.

Kevin, Avi, and Mitch join them in the kitchen and Avi looks around and asks, "Where's Kirstie?"

"Oh, she went for a walk," Emma says pointing to the door.

"Is she coming back soon?" Avi asked walking up to the door and looking out at the beach.

"Yea, she said that she would be back soon, wait, that was over 45 minutes ago." Emma says looking outside now too. She walks outside onto the deck as the others follow her. They all look for Kirstie, but they don't see her.

"Maybe she went to the pier and got a coffee," Mitch said.

Avi pulls out his cell phone and calls her. No answer. He texts her, 'Kirstie, call me. You ok?'

Avi then walks down the deck out into the sand and looks down the beach one way and the other way.

Emma has a sinking feeling in her stomach and pulls her phone out as well. She calls. No answer. She texts Kirstie as well, 'Kirstie, call me!'

Scott and Kevin walk down to where Avi is standing and they look as well. Mitch is standing on the deck with Emma and they are holding hands. Avi looks to Kevin and Scott and says, "Okay, I'm going to head down towards the pier. Em and Mitch, stay here in case she comes back and call me. Kevin and Scott, come with me."

Em and Mitch nod in agreement and watch the three boys walk down the beach towards the pier.

Avi is frightened and Kevin is trying to remain calm and says, "Avi, she's okay. She just went to get coffee and her phone is probably off or something."

Avi looks at Kevin and says, "I hope so, I just don't feel good about this for some reason."

The boys walked all the way to the pier and nothing. No sign of anything. They look around and decide to head back to the house. Avi notices something in the sand by one of the wooden planks in the pier. He reaches for it and yells at Scott and Kevin, "It's Kirstie's phone!"

Scott and Kevin stop dead in their tracks and run over. Scott pulls it form Avi's hand and looks at it and punches in her passcode. Avi looks at him and says, "You know her passcode?"

Scott quickly says, "It's your birthday, Avi."

Scott pulls up the text messages and says, "Avi, Kevin, look at this."

There was one message, started 30 minutes ago, and addressed to Avi that had not been sent yet, all it said was, "HELP ME".

(Kirstie's POV)

I can't see anything. I try and speak but I can't. Something is covering my mouth and my eyes. My hands are tied together. All I know to do is pray as the tears roll down my face.

To Be Continued…


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Scott, Avi, and Kevin waited until the cops showed up. When the police officers showed up, they brought them to the beach where they found the phone. One of the officers took Kirstie's phone and said that they were going to go back to the beach house where they were staying so that they could canvas the area. Scott thought of Emma and Mitch and called them.

"Hello," Mitch answered.

"Mitch, I'm coming back to the house, I have news to tell you," Scott said bleakly.

Mitch sat down knowing this was not a good sign, and said, "Scott, just tell me what's going on, I have to know."

Scott took a breath and said, "Kirstie is missing, we can't find her, just found her phone with a message for Avi. We called the cops and they are heading back to the beach house to canvas the area."

"No, no, no…" Mitch said as tears fell from his eyes. Emma came over and sat beside Mitch and put her arm around him. Mitch dropped his phone and leaned into Emma mumbling something. Emma reached down to the phone and picked it up, "Hello?"

"Em, I'll be home soon. Okay, I have to go now." Scott said.

"Scott, what's going on, Mitch is crying hysterically. Please just tell me," Emma said.

Scott told her knowing her reaction would be similar to Mitch's. He was feeling that way too, but he was trying to stay brave for them all. He wanted to find Kirstie and would do anything to find her. Emma hung up and as her tears flowed, she hugged Mitch as they cried together.

Scott, Avi, Kevin, and about five other police officers came up to the backside of the beach house. Emma and Mitch ran out to see everyone. Emma went up to Scott and hugged him as he held her. She said, "This can't be happening, I just saw her this morning."

Scott leaned down and said, "We will find her, Em."

The police officer walked over to Emma and Scott. He looked at Emma and asked, "Excuse miss, are you Emma? Can we talk to you about your cousin and your conversation this morning?"

Emma turned from Scott's chest and faced the officer and nodded. She walked over to some of the chairs on the deck as the others surrounded her and the officer. She told them everything that she could think of, what Kirstie was wearing, black shorts, a pink t-shirt, and some black beach shoes. She tells them that she had her phone on her; hair pulled back into a ponytail and had bright pink sunglasses on. She then drops her head into her lap and cries, "Kirstie."

Scott leans down to Emma's level and places his arm around her and she turns into him and continues to cry. Scott looks at the office hoping this is the last of the questions and said, "Do you need anything else?"

The officer looked at Emma and Scott and said, "That'll be all for now. Stay close to the house, and we will find her, miss, we have the best looking for her. I will call you if I know anything," and handed Scott his card.

Scott took the card and watched the officer walk off the deck with the others and started canvasing the area from the house to the pier. They started walking to the other houses on the beach and checking each house between where Pentatonix was staying to the pier. There were about twenty houses between them and the pier and the police were going to check each and every house along the way, they were convinced that she was nearby since her phone was on the beach. Emma got up and headed inside to the guest bedroom and she curled up on her bed and got under the blankets and held onto a photo of Kirstie and cried into her pillow.

Avi, Mitch, Scott, and Kevin were all outside still and they were watching the police on the beach. Avi said, "I feel like I should be out there with them."

Kevin came over to Avi and placed his arm around him and said, "Avi, they will find her, she'll be okay."

"I hope so, Kirstie is my world, I can't imagine her not being here, I love her so much," Avi says walking inside the house. Mitch looks over at Avi as he walks in and says, "They'll find her, Avi."

Mitch goes to Scott and they hug and Kevin comes over and hugs them as well. They go back inside and all sit in the living room. After some time passes, Scott gets up and goes to check on Emma.

(Scott's POV)

I walk into Emma's room and see her crumpled up on her bed, devastated, feeling the way we are all feeling right now. I go to her and lie beside her and pull her into my arms and we hold each other for what seemed like hours. I kiss the top of her head and tell her, "It's going to be okay, Em."

Emma looks at me with her sad eyes and says, "I'm praying that it's going to be, Scott, I can't lose Kirstie, she's like my sister, she's my family. I haven't even called her mom, I just can't right now."

"You don't have to call her right now, let's wait a couple of hours first," I say.

She leans into me and I hold her and run my hand through her hair and rub her back.

(Kirstie's POV)

It's been hours and I'm scared out of my mind. My thoughts are of Avi, Em, Mitch, Scott, Kevin, my family. I try to remain calm and am startled when I hear voices in the other room. Frozen with fear, I try my best to listen to them, recognizing one of the voices belonging to Jeremy. I don't know the other voice. I hear footsteps and two people coming into the room that I am in. Cringing away from the voices, I try to back up as much as I can even though I'm in a chair already. Jeremy drops to his knees in front of me and pulls the blindfold off my eyes. "Shane, how could you! I told you to just bring her here, not tie her up!" Jeremy yells at the direction of the tall man.

"Well, I went to her house last night and there was no one there, just the other girl, Emma. I went back this morning and waited and saw Kirstie go for a walk without anyone else, I thought it was a perfect chance to get her," Shane says laughing.

"This is not funny! We are going to jail for a long time, do you even realize what you have done?!" Jeremy yells and gets in his face.

I try my best to remain as calm as I can, hoping that Jeremy will let me go. I look up and see that Shane and Jeremy are getting into a heated argument and it's not long before they start fighting, swinging their fists and landing blows. They both stop when they hear a loud banging, knock on the front door and Shane grabs something and I try and make it out and I lose my breath when I see it's a gun. I look to Jeremy and he's slowly moving towards the door.

"Don't you say a word," Shane says looking back at me pointing the gun towards me. My eyes widen and I look away, looking towards Jeremy, who is the only person in this room at the moment, who would save me.

Jeremy says, "Shane, put that away, what the hell are you doing."

Shane lowers his gun and says, "I'm getting the door, it might be the police, I saw them checking other houses down the beach. It was stupid of us to stay right here in the area."

Shane leaves the room and shuts the door and goes to the front door to answer it. Jeremy turns to me and comes quickly over and unties my arms and takes the tape off my mouth. "I need to get out of here, now!" I whisper loudly.

Jeremy looks around the room and says, "Kirstie, I'll let you go, I'm going to go check on the front door, okay. Just stay here, I want to talk to you, still."

"No, I'm not talking to you; I'm not staying here in this house a minute longer than I have too. I'm leaving," I say as I look to the window on the back wall. It's similar to the beach house I am staying in and I can see that it leads out to the beach. I go to the window and open in and look down and see that it's a big drop, but this is my life I'm saving, I look and see police officers and I scream at them, "Help me! Help me! Over here!"

I feel Jeremy coming towards me and I jump out the window away from his grip. I fall to the ground fast and hard hitting my head on a rock that I didn't see.

….. Back to Third Person POV…..

The police were at the front door and when Shane answered, they knew something was up with the way he was acting. Shane also matched the description of the man who showed up at the house last night. They questioned him about this and he showed signs of lying. They asked if they could come inside and Shane said, "Not without a warrant, I know my rights."

They then heard a scream coming from the back room and Shane tried to run past them into the front yard towards a car. The police officer grabbed him quickly and brought him down to the ground. The other officer walked into the house cautiously and came to the room with Jeremy who was sitting in a chair. "Sir, we heard a scream, are you okay?" They see the window wide open and look down and see Kirstie on the ground below them and see blood coming from her head. The officer turns to Jeremy and Jeremy just holds out his hands because he knows that he's going to be arrested. He doesn't want anything to happen to Kirstie. He was afraid of the worse. That Kirstie had fallen to her death.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

"Scott, Emma!" Mitch said coming into the room. Scott and Emma sit up and say, "What?"

"They found Kirstie, but they said that she's on her way to the hospital, she tried to get away and jumped from a window and fell and hit her head," Mitch said breathlessly.

Emma jumped up and hugged Mitch and turned back to Scott and said, "Let's go, now."

They took two cars to the hospital and once inside; Emma ran to Emergency and looked for the officers. They were waiting outside Kirstie's room and stopped Emma before she could enter.

"What's wrong, I need to see her, I'm family," Emma said.

"Miss, let the doctors look at her, she hit her head pretty bad, they are prepping her for surgery now, so they can stop the bleeding," the officer says with a sincere voice.

Emma walks over to a nearby bench and sits down and drops her head into her hands. Mitch sits beside her and they hold onto each other. Kevin comes over and sits beside Mitch. On the other side of the hallway, Avi and Scott sat. They did their best to wait patiently and after about three hours, a doctor came down the hallway and looked at the group and said, "Emma?"

Emma stood up and said, "Yes, doctor, is Kirstie okay? Please tell me."

The group stood as well and they stood behind Emma, and the doctor said, "Are you family?"

Emma without hesitation said, "Yes, we are all her family, whatever you tell me, you can say in front of all of us."

The doctor explained that Kirstie suffered a large injury to her head with the fall. The surgery was successful to stop the bleeding and she is in recovery now. She should wake up soon, but to be cautious, because they do not know if she has suffered any brain damage.

Emma looks at the doctor, "Brain damage, what kind of brain damage?"

"Well, sometimes in these cases, there is a loss of memory. Sometimes, there is a loss of the use of one side of your body. We just really don't know until she wakes up, but this is the best hospital on the coast and we are confident that she will make a full recovery," the doctor says.

Emma says, "Can I go see her?"

"Yes, but only two at a time," the doctor says pointing to the room where Kirstie was.

Emma reached for Avi's hand, knowing that he wanted to see Kirstie. They slowly walked into the room and heard the beeps of the machines that surrounded Kirstie. Emma walked over to one side of Kirstie and reached for her hand and sat in a nearby chair. Avi walked on the other side of Kirstie and held her other hand. Kirstie just laid there. Emma leaned down and kissed Kirstie on her forehead and said, "Kirstie, we are all here, it's time to wake up now."

Emma leaned back in the chair and sat and just watched Kirstie. She looked so peaceful, almost like she was just sleeping. Avi leaned in and kissed Kirstie on her cheek and whispered in her ear, "Baby, I'm here, I love you."

Emma smiled at Avi and they sat in silence as they both held onto Kirstie's hands. After a little time, they left the room so that the others could come in and see her. Emma walked out into the hallway and nodded for Mitch and Scott to go in. Mitch and Scott headed in and saw their friend and both of them reached for her hands as well. Mitch said, "Girl, you better wake up soon." He leaned down and hugged Kirstie and kissed her on her forehead. Scott squeezed her hand and said, "Kir, we are all here for you."

They sat for a little while and then got up so that Kevin could come back in. Emma went in with Kevin. Kevin sat with Kirstie and prayed as he held her hand and Emma was so touched. The group took turns spending time with Kirstie for the next several hours.

(Emma's POV)

It was getting dark outside now and my stomach was growling at me. Scott looked over at me and said, "You should eat something, have you eaten anything at all?"

I tried my best to remember what I had eaten, if anything, I remember the breakfast I was making earlier this morning and say, "I think that I had a piece of bacon this morning when I was cooking."

"Em, let's go eat something okay, or let me bring you something," Scott says to me.

I shake my head, "I'm not hungry, I just want to stay here and wait until she wakes up."

"I know, sweetie, but, let me get you something. You can stay here and I'll be back, okay," Scott said as he leaned down and kissed me gently on top of my head.

I smile and say, "Thank you."

I turn back to Kirstie and we are alone in the room for a moment. I lean into her and say, "Kirstie, you need to wake up now, okay."

I reach for Kirstie's hand and I feel a small squeeze, I look up at her and see her eyes moving underneath her eyelids and I feel that this is a good sign. I squeeze her hand back waiting for her to open her eyes. After a few minutes, Kirstie finally opens her eyes.

(Kirstie's POV)

My head hurts badly right now; I don't really know where I am. I look around this room and finally draw my eyes towards Emma. I smile because I recognize her. I try and speak and the words come slowly, "Em, where am I?"

Emma looks at me with tears in her eyes and says, "Kirstie, you are in the hospital. You fell out of a window and hit your head on a rock. Do you remember anything that happened earlier today?"

Searching my memories was difficult; it seemed like looking through a fog. I shake my head and say, "No, I don't. The last thing I remember is signing yearbooks, wasn't that yesterday?"

Emma looks at me so strangely and I am scared at first and she says, "Kirstie, what day do you think it is?"

"Um, well, I think June 10th, why?" I say.

"Kirstie, what year is it?" Emma asks.

I smile at first and then when I say, "2010", and see her reaction, I get scared. I look around for the remote to the TV and turn it on and find a news station. I see the date at the bottom of the screen and look at Emma, "Is this some kind of evil joke, what happened?"

Emma reaches for my hand and says, "It's okay, Kirstie, the doctor said that this might happen, your memories will come back, it is really 2014, I'm so sorry that this happened."

I then take it all in and I notice how long Emma's hair is and I look at her and say, "Your hair is so long."

"Yea, I grew it out since high school, a lot has happened to you since then, Kirstie. What do you remember about your life right now?" Emma says.

I lay back and think and say, "Well, Scott and Mitch are my best friends and we make videos for YouTube. We're going to make it big one day, if it's up to Scott at all." I say laughing and then ask, "Are they here?"

Emma smiles and nods and says, "Yes, everyone is here. Scott, Mitch, Kevin, and Avi."

"Who are Kevin and Avi, do I know them?" I say.

"Well, Scott, Mitch, Avi, Kevin, and you all are part of a world famous a cappella group called, Pentatonix." Emma says.

"Okay, okay, seriously, I feel like I'm being punk'd right now." Kirstie says.

"No, really, look at this," says Emma as she pulls out a phone and googles and shows me a video. I watch it and am amazed. Tears fill my eyes and I say, "We really did it, Em."

"Yes, you did. Let me go get the others, okay, they want to see you," Emma says as she walks into the hallway.

I continue to watch videos of the group that I am in and I can't believe how great we all sound, I can't believe that's me. I can't believe that our dreams came true and I can't remember anything.

(Emma's POV)

Walking up to Mitch, I take a breath, and say, "Mitch, come here."

Mitch walks over to me and I look at him and tell him everything. I see Scott coming back with some food and I motion for him to join us. I finish telling them both what's going on and Mitch and Scott look at each other and then back at me. Mitch says, "So, she doesn't remember anything from the past four years?" I shake my head no and say, "No, she thinks that y'all just signed yearbooks back in school yesterday."

They walk into the Kirstie's room while I stay in the hallway to tell Avi and Kevin the news.

(Mitch's POV)

Scott and I walk into the room and see Kirstie crying looking at videos. We smile and I say, "Kirstie, it's good to see you awake." She looks at me and smiles and says, "You have facial hair now."

She hugs us both and says, "The videos are great, guys. We came a long way since our old YouTube days."

Scott sat beside her on one side and me on the other. We look at her and she just keeps staring at us. She looks over at Scott and says, "You look so much older now."

Scott laughs, "Hey now." He touches her face and says, "How are you feeling?"

"My head hurts and I feel like I'm in a fog. I want to go home," Kirstie says.

"Well, we are on a summer vacation for a couple of months here in California," I say.

"Wow, really? That's nice," Kirstie says.

She looks at one of the videos and says, "I like The Wizard of Ahhhs video, that's cute. I don't recognize the songs, but I guess I'll get used to that, uh."

I look at her and say, "You really have a great attitude about not having your memories for the past four year."

She looked at me and smiled, "Mitch, they will come back, I'm sure of it."

(Third Person POV)

Emma walks back in with a doctor and the doctor checks Kirstie and sees no sign of permanent brain damage and he feels that her memories will come back over time. Kirstie asks when she can go home and the doctor said that she could go home after a couple of days. The doctor leaves and Kevin and Avi come into the room. For the first time, Kirstie feels nervous. Here are these two guys who she knew that were in her current life, but she had no idea who they were. She watched as Kevin sat on one side of her and Avi sat on the other. She looked over to Emma, Scott, and Mitch who were all smiling. Kevin said, "Hi Kirstie, I'm Kevin." She smiled and said, "Hi Kevin, I'm sorry that I don't remember you, but I'm sure that we are great friends." Avi took her hand and she pulled it away. Avi then said, "I'm sorry, I'm Avi, I didn't mean to do that." Avi shot a look over to Emma and he looked so sad. Kirstie said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pull away, I just don't know you. I'm sure that we are great friends too."

Kirstie looked at Avi and felt bad that because she felt that the way Avi looked at her, that they were close. She just didn't know how close. She laid her head back and yawned, this was a lot to take in and she needed some rest. The guys slowly left her so that she could rest and headed out to the hall.

(Avi's POV)

She didn't know me, at all. I go to the end of the hall and pace back and forth. I look up and see Kevin walking towards me and I really don't feel like talking to anyone. I want my old Kirstie back. This new Kirstie couldn't even hold my hand.

Kevin walks up to me and says, "Avi, it's okay, she's going to come back from this and remember everything."

I say, "I really hope so, Kevin. I feel like my heart just broke to pieces."

"I know, but, we are here for you and we are all here for Kirstie." Kevin says.

(Kirstie's POV)

Emma comes back into the room and I notice a touch between her and Scott at the door and he leans into her and kisses her on the cheek. She then comes to sit next to me and I smile and say, "Are you and Scott?"

She nods and says, "Yea, it's new, we just started, well, I don't know really, but, yes, we are together."

I laugh out loud and this makes my head hurt. I say, "Okay, give me an update on me, am I dating anyone?"

Emma smiles and says, "Yes, and you are in love."

I sit up and say, "Really, who is it? Is it that guy that I met last weekend, Jeremy."

Emma's smile turns to a frown and says, "No, that guy, Jeremy broke your heart a million times and you finally broke up with him and he's who put you in here. Well, not really, but his friend, Shane kidnapped you and you jumped out of a window."

My face turns to horror, "What?"

Emma realizes that she saying too much, "Sorry, Kirstie, I just really don't like Jeremy. He's a bad person. I didn't mean to spill all of that in one breath."

I slowly let the information sink in and say, "Who is my boyfriend? Are they here in the hospital?"

Emma says, "I don't know if I should tell you, I don't want you to freak out."

"I have to know, Emma, I would tell you," I say.

"It's Avi," she says to me.

I think back to him reaching for my hand and me pulling it away and I feel badly now. I try and think of anything about him and my mind is still in a thick fog. I look at Emma and say, "I wish that I could just close my eyes and remember everything."

"You will in time, do you want me to go get your boyfriend?" Emma says with a smile.

"No, I don't even know what to say to him, I just met him like two seconds ago," I say.

To Be Continued…


	19. Chapter 19

_**Several Days later…**_  
The doctor released Kirstie to return back to the beach house. Her memories have not come back yet, but the doctors are still very hopeful and Kirstie remains positive that they will. Pulling up to the house Emma looked over at Kirstie and said, "We are home."  
Kirstie got out of the car and looked at the house and the porch and couldn't help but feel like she has seen it before, everything looked very familiar to her. She was so pleased because that could mean that her memories were going to come back to her. She looked over at Emma and smiled and told her, "Em, I feel like I've been here before."  
Emma walked over to her and hugged her and said, "Yes, take it a day at a time, Kirstie, it will come back."  
Scott, Mitch, Kevin, and Avi were all waiting inside the house. Avi was pacing in the kitchen area and Kevin walked up to him and said, "Avi, it'll be okay, she will remember everything, she still feels those feelings, they are just buried right now."  
Avi looked at Kevin and said, "It's so hard to be around her and not reach out to her and touch her and tell her everything."  
Kevin put his arm around his best friend and said, "I know, I can't imagine what this is like for you. But, I do know that Kirstie is a very strong person and she will come through this and she will remember you."  
"I hope so," Avi said with a heavy sigh.  
The door opened and Emma walked in and everyone stood up and watched Kirstie walk in.

**(Kirstie's POV)**  
I walk in and see this beautiful place and I look around and see my friends, Scott and Mitch, and my new friends, Kevin and Avi, and they are all smiling at me. I wish that I could blink and the memories would be gone. I smile back and look to Emma and say, "So, where's my room?"  
Emma smiles and points me in the direction of my room and I walk in and see all of my stuff. I look through it and some of the things are things I do know, but some are new. I run my fingers along my photos and look at how happy I am in some of them. I hear someone at my door and turn around and see Mitch.  
"Hey Mitchy," I say.  
"Hey Kirstie, how's it going?" Mitch says.  
"As good as it can go, I guess. I feel like I'm letting you all down." I say as I hold a photo of the entire Pentatonix group and show it to Mitch. "We are so amazing together?" I say.  
"Yes, we should all sing something together; we have a studio downstairs, maybe it will trigger something?" Mitch asks.  
It couldn't hurt and I nod excitedly.

**(Avi's POV)**  
We all head downstairs to sing something and I try and not do anything stupid. We head into the sound studio and Emma sits at the controls. We decide that we would sing something that Kirstie would know from years ago. She seems so excited to hear all of sing together and I can't help but think of everytime that we have sung together.  
"Let's sing something new," Kirstie asks.  
"Okay, follow me in this song," Mitch says.  
We start to sing, Run to You. Kirstie joins in right on queue and she seems like the old Kirstie for a moment. I look at her and smile and she smiles back. We finish the song and I look over at her and say, "Wow, Kirstie. Good job, that was great!"  
She smiles and says, "I've been listening to our songs nonstop thanks to Emma's ipod, she really likes us, did you guys know that? She even has all of Scott's songs he records from way before."  
I turn to Emma who is turning bright red and we all laugh. Emma says, "Kirstie."  
Kirstie turns to Emma and says, "What, I thought it was sweet."  
We sing a few more songs and finish up for the day. I ask to speak to Kirstie alone and everyone else heads upstairs. She seems nervous, but not too much. We go and sit on the couch and I face her and say, "I know that Emma told you that we were together."  
"Yes, she told me. I'm sorry that I haven't said anything to you, I just feel bad and I don't want to hurt you. I wish that I could remember everything, Avi, I just can't," Kirstie said.  
"It's okay, baby, I mean, Kirstie. We can take things one day at a time. I just want you to know that I am here for you and I will continue to be. Please don't feel bad or guilty or pressured," I say. I so want to hold her; but I know that I can't.  
Kirstie looks at me and smiles and says, "You really are so sweet, Em told me that you were so wonderful to me." She reached out to me and touches my chin and for a second she stops. It's like I almost see in her eyes, the old Kirstie. I touch her hand and say, "What is it, do you remember something?"  
Kirstie just shakes her head and says, "I don't know if it's memories or just something that I am thinking."  
"You can tell me, what is it?" I ask.  
"It's silly, don't worry about it," she says.  
"You have to tell me now, what is it?" I ask with a small smile.  
"It's just that when I touched your chin and felt your beard in my fingers, it just felt so normal, like something that I did all the time," Kirstie says.  
"That's a good thing, and yes, I would think that it's a memory, you always run your fingers through my beard," I say.  
She smiles and I want to pull her in and hug her.

**(Kirstie's POV)**  
I have this urge to just reach out to Avi and touch him, hold him, kiss him. I don't know why, it's something in me; I look at Avi and just know that he is the one for me. I feel all giddy inside. Could this really be all of my memories coming back to me? I look at him and say, "Can I kiss you?"  
He smiles and says, "You never have to ask, you can kiss me anytime."  
My heart is pounding, my stomach is doing somersaults, and I feel like if I give into this feeling that I have towards Avi, it will bring back my memories. I lean in towards him and lightly kiss him. Once I do, my body remembers everything, even if my mind hasn't caught up yet. I give into the kiss. I reach for the back of his head and I feel his arms wrap slowly and cautiously around my waist. We kiss passionately for several minutes and in this time, no memories have been lost, no time has been lost, our bodies know each other so well, our souls know each other so well, and our hearts know each other so well. I can barely take all of the emotion that is being thrown at me in this moment and I pull away catching my breath.  
He looks at me with such concern and say, "Kirstie, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that."  
I laugh, "You didn't do anything wrong, Avi."  
Avi smiled and said, "So, any memories triggered yet?"  
Searching my thoughts, I say, "Don't know yet, but I do know that was the best kiss of my life. I felt like I was home. Even if I don't get my memories, I'm happy to have you in my life."  
Avi reached for me and I gladly fell into his arms and we held each other.

_**Upstairs…**_  
**(Scott's POV)**  
Emma was walking around cleaning everything and I know it's because she's worried about Kirstie. I walk up behind her and put my arms around her waist and put my chin on her shoulder and say, "Em, stop cleaning everything."  
She turns facing me and smiles and says, "Sorry, I tend to do this when I worry. I just really want Kirstie and Avi to be okay, Avi is perfect for her and I don't want her to lose that."  
"She won't, Avi's not going anywhere." I say.  
"So, you really have every song I have ever recorded?" I ask.  
She blushes and says, "Well, not every single song, but, yes, I do. I told you, you have an amazing voice." She says the last part with a whisper and turns around to make sure that no one else heard her.  
I pull her towards my room and she laughs and says, "Where are we going?"  
"You have been spending all of your time at the hospital and I haven't been able to kiss you like I have been wanting too," Scott says.  
I pull Emma into my room and shut the door and I lean down to her face and kiss her and she wraps her arms around my neck and I pull her into me. We kiss for a little while and we break away smiling. She looks at me and says, "I missed that kiss."  
She then leans forward and kisses me quickly and says, "I should go."  
"Why, is there more cleaning to be done," I tease.  
She nudges me softly and says, "No, I just, I don't know, I just don't know where this is going and I don't really know how you feel about me, so I don't want it to get too serious."  
I look at her speechless and she looks at me and says, "What did I say?"  
I pull her to one of the chairs in my room and sit her down and kneel on my knees in front of her where we are face to face. I put my hands on her hers in her lap and say, "Em, I can't imagine my world without you in it. You are so important to me. The way I feel about you is more than how I have ever felt about anyone else before."

**(Emma's POV)**  
I am once again blown away by this guy who sits in front of me. I never really thought that Scott would ever care for me the way that I care for him. I smile and say, "I feel the same way; I have felt that way about you for a while."  
He then says, "Do you still need to go now?"  
I look into those blue eyes and just melt and lean forward and kiss him and say, "Never."

**To be continued…**


	20. Chapter 20

**The next morning…** Kristie woke up early and sat up in bed. She looked around the room and didn't just know some of the things from the past four years, she remembered everything. She was elated; she couldn't believe that all of her memories came back. She suddenly was faced with the moments of her kidnapping and Shane and Jeremy. These are the memories that she did not want to have. She ran out of her room and went down the hall to Avi's room and knocked before entering. Avi was sleeping peacefully, and was woken up by the knocking. He looked over towards the door and smiled when he saw Kirstie standing there in the doorway.  
She ran up to him and said, "Avi, wake up, I remember now."  
He sat up and said, "What?"  
"I remember it all. I just woke up and it's like someone flipped a switch in my head. It's all back like it never went away. But, I also remember the kidnapping and Shane and Jeremy," Kirstie said crawling into the bed with Avi.  
Avi moved over some and pulled her in close and held her and said, "You probably need to go talk to the police now that you remember everything just to make sure that Shane and Jeremy told them everything."  
"I'll call the officer later, I'm just glad that they are both in jail," Kirstie says.  
"Have you told Em that you got your memories back?" Avi asked.  
"You were the first one that I wanted to see," Kirstie says holding Avi closer.  
"I'm so happy for you, Kirstie, but I'm sorry that you remember the kidnapping. I was glad that you didn't have to remember that, I'm here if you want to talk about it, though." Avi says. Mitch slowly got up for the day and got ready, he really needed some coffee. He walked out into the hallway and knocked on Scott's door. He heard a hushed voice and then, "Come in."  
He walked in and saw Scott lying in bed and there was a large lump beside him. Mitch knew instantly that it was Emma, but he decided to have a little fun. He walked over to Scott's bed and smiled and said, "Good morning, Scott."  
Scott smiled and said, "Good morning, what's up?"  
Mitch said, "Oh, I don't know, just woke up and felt like making some coffee. You wouldn't mind if I rest right here for a minute?" With that, Mitch plopped down on top of the large lump in the bed and laughed.  
Emma laughed too and pulled the covers down from her head and said, "Mitch!"  
Scott couldn't help but laugh too and said, "So much for hiding in here, Em."  
Mitch sat up and shot a smirk to both Emma and Scott and said, "Well, I will see you two later and I'll talk to you both later." Mitch walked out of the room and shut the door and was very happy for his two friends.  
Emma looked at Scott and said, "Well, I guess everyone will know now that I spent the night in here."  
Scott curled up with Emma and said, "Who cares what they think."  
"I guess I don't really care, I don't want people to get the wrong idea, we didn't do anything, you know. It's just this isn't really the type of thing that I normally do back at home," Emma says.  
"Like what, spend the night with your boyfriends?" Scott asks.  
"Yea, I don't really spend the night with guys that I am dating."  
"Well, that's good, are you currently dating anyone right now by the way? I guess I should have asked that a lot sooner," Scott said with a little bit of nervousness in his voice.  
"Nope, single girl, here," Emma says.  
"Until now," Scott says as he pulls Emma closer and kisses her.  
She pulls away and says, "So, I guess this is official now? Us."  
"I would hope so, I don't really do this either, you know. I know that we never really came out and said, dating, boyfriend, girlfriend, etc. But, yes, I would like for you to be my girlfriend, would you?" Scott asked.  
"I would love too, Scott," Emma said as she leaned towards him and kissed him. **Later that day…** After Kirstie shared her good news with everyone, they all went out to have a celebratory lunch. Kirstie leaned over to Emma who was sitting beside her and said, "Okay, spill it, you and Scott are very affectionate today."  
"We are officially dating now," Emma says with a large grin from ear to ear.  
Kirstie says, "Oh, I'm so happy for you Em. I have a question for you? Would you like to join us as part of our crew and travel with us and be my personal assistant?"  
"Really, I don't know Kirstie, what about school? What about my job? I have to give this some thought, okay." Emma says.  
"Okay, sure. If you need some time, just let me know," Kirstie says.  
Kirstie then shoots a look over at Scott who already knew about wanting to ask Emma this and shrugged her shoulders. Emma looked down at her plate and played with her fork swirling it around her salad. She excused herself from the table and headed into the bathroom.  
When she was gone, Scott came over and sat in Emma's chair and said, "What did she say?"  
"She said that she wasn't sure and that she needed to think about it, sorry Scott." Kirstie said.  
"I wonder why she didn't say yes right away, I thought that she would have jumped at the opportunity," Scott says disappointed.  
"She didn't say no, she just said she needed to think about it, that's all. I'm sure that she will say yes, don't worry," Kirstie said. **(Scott's POV)**  
I am sort of confused right now because I thought for sure that Emma would love to go on tour with us and travel with us around the world. It would mean that we would be together; we wouldn't have to have a long distance relationship. I go back to my seat and just sit there quietly. Mitch looks at me and knows something is bothering me and says, "Trouble in paradise already, Blondie?"  
"No, try confusion," I say quietly.  
Mitch puts his hand on my shoulder and says, "Don't worry, everything will be okay." **(Emma's POV)**  
I go into the bathroom and go to the last stall and walk in and close the door and lean against the wall. I stand there and try my best to just relax and breathe. I feel like everything is happening so fast. A week ago, I was sitting at home getting a text message from Mitch to come out and surprise Kirstie. In that one week, I was confronted by Jeremy, pushed into his car, lost a best friend, my cousin was kidnapped and lost her memories, she regained her memories, and all during that time, I somehow managed to get a boyfriend, not only a boyfriend, but a guy who I actually really really like. I feel like I'm in this whirlwind and I will never find normal again. I don't know if I will be able to handle life on the road. I know that I would be able to see Kirstie and the gang and see Scott all the time if I go, but what about my life at home. I would be walking away from my school, my job, and my friends there. Do I really want to be Kirstie's personal assistant? Feeling like I have completely disappointed Kirstie in saying that I needed time to think about it was weighing on me too. I gathered myself and decided that I needed to get back to the table. When I arrived, I sat beside Kirstie and looked across the table at Scott and he seemed sad for some reason. I smiled at him and he slowly smiled back. I knew right away, that he knew about Kirstie's question to me and knew my answer to her, requesting more time. Surly, he was disappointed in me for saying that and I had no idea how I was going to explain this to him. **(Third person POV)** After lunch, everyone went out shopping in the local shops in the area. They all got a couple of items and headed back to the house. In the car, Emma couldn't help but notice the silence coming from Scott. Scott was driving and she was sitting in the passenger seat. Kevin and Mitch were sitting in the middle row while Avi and Kirstie were sitting in the last row. Scott wasn't even singing along to Beyoncé when one of her songs came on the radio. **(Emma's POV)**  
"Scott, what's up?" I say breaking the silence between us. I said it softly enough to where he was the only one in the car that could hear me.  
He shrugged and said, "Nothing, why?"  
"Don't do that, tell me what's wrong?" I say.  
"You should tell me what's wrong, you are the one not sure if you can go on the road with us?" he says with a little hurt in his voice.  
I turn and face the road and am upset that he's upset over this, wasn't this my decision. I don't say another word until we get to the house. I walk in and go immediately to the guest room. I sense Scott following me to my room. Walking into my room, I busy myself with putting my clothes up, lining my shoes up on the floor, cleaning up my dresser. He walks in and shuts the door behind him and stands there. I finally look over at him and say, "What is it? What do you want to say?"  
"Why don't you want to join us?" Scott says holding out his hands.  
"Did she tell you that I said no, I told her I needed time to think about it, that's all," I say.  
"What do you need to think about?" he asks.  
"A lot of things, I really don't feel like getting into something right now, okay." I say really hoping that this uncomfortable conversation will be coming to an end soon.  
"Em, we are communicating, you can be honest with me, what are you having to think about?" Scott asks.  
I look at him and know that he's not going anywhere until he gets an answer. I walk over to the window in my room and look out at the beach and look back at him. He's standing there with his arms crossed and he looks so hurt, I did this. Walking up to him, I reach for his hands and look into his eyes and say, "This past week has been one of the craziest weeks of my entire life. So much has happened to me this week. I just needed some time to think about it, it's a big decision to just start my life over. I have my school, my work, my life back at home. This would mean changing all of that."  
He pulls his hands away from me and says, "You don't think that we all understand that first hand, we do."  
"I know you do, but I didn't ask for this life," I said and instantly regretted it. It didn't come out right because I see the hurt in his eyes.  
He looked upset and said, "Why did you say you would be my girlfriend?"  
This hurts me more than I thought it would, "Because I like you."  
"If you like me, wouldn't you want to spend more time with me?" he asks.  
"It's not that I don't want to spend time with you, that has nothing to do with this." I shoot back at him with a tone.  
"It has everything to do with it," he shoots right back at me and with this he leaves my room and shuts the door loudly behind him.  
I have never seen Scott upset or angry, so this was a first for me. I sit on my bed and wonder if I just lost the guy that I just started dating in the same day? I shake my head and try to play over the conversation in my mind. **(Scott's POV)**  
I am so pissed off right now, I hate being upset and angry. I walk downstairs so that I can be alone. I sit down at the sound board and play some of the tracks that we recorded earlier this week and I just try and lose myself in the music. I completely jump out of my chair when Mitch taps me on the shoulder.  
"Geez, Mitch, you scared the crap out of me," I say.  
"What happened upstairs with you and Em, I haven't seen you this upset in a long time?" Mitch asks.  
"Did you talk to Em?" I ask.  
"She wouldn't talk to me, so I came to you, I don't like seeing you two like this," he says.  
"I don't either; long story short, Kirstie asked Em to be her personal assistant and Em said that she had to think about it. I got upset because Em didn't make a decision right away and basically I just got pissed about it. I'm still pissed about it, okay." I say.  
Mitch sits back and looks at me and says, "Scott, you are so in love, aren't you."  
"What are you talking about?" I say.  
"You can't even see it yet, but you are. You are so hurt because you think that Em's answer of saying that she needed some time was something about you." he says.  
"I don't know what to do now. I just stormed out of her room," I say.  
"You should talk to her, you should try and let her explain, don't let this ruin your relationship, it just started," Mitch says.  
I know Mitch is right and I just sit there and go back to working on our music. Mitch pats me on the back and walks back upstairs. **(Kevin's POV)**  
Mitch, I, Avi, and Kirstie decide to all go to the beach and let the two little nonspeaking lovebirds alone in the house. Perhaps, they'll talk to each other when we are gone. We have a great time at the beach and the water is crystal clear. I take some photos and take some great shots of Mitch and Avi and Kirstie.  
"Hi there," said a guy from my left. I turned to him and said, "Hi."  
"Hi, my name is Matt, and this is my brother, Paul. We are locked out of our beach house three doors down and are waiting for the locksmith to come. Can we trouble you for some water?" Matt says.  
I smile and say, "Of course, how long have you been locked out?"  
"About five hours, we were going to just wait, but we started getting thirsty, we have been out at the beach all day and didn't know we locked ourselves out until just now. They told us it would be about two hours before he can get here," Matt said.  
"Well, come on back to the house, we'll get you squared away, I'm Kevin by the way. This is Avi, Kristie, and Mitch." I say.  
Paul looks up instantly at us and says, "Oh my goodness, I know you, you are amazing!"  
Matt looks at Paul and says, "What?"  
Paul rolls his eyes and says, "Please excuse my brother here. Matt, this is the group, Pentatonix. They are amazing!"  
Matt smiles and says, "Sorry I haven't heard of you."  
I look at Avi, Mitch, and Kirstie and laugh and say, "That's refreshing. A non-fan. Come on, guys, come inside."  
We all head towards the house and Matt and Paul walk in with us. I go to the kitchen and grab some water bottles and give them each one. **(Mitch's POV)**  
Paul is so cute, he's a little bit taller than me, has red hair, freckles, and emerald green eyes. He doesn't look like his brother Matt at all. Matt could be as tall as Scott and Kevin, he has dark brown hair, and brown eyes. I smile at Paul and he smiles back and says, "I love your voice, Mitch."  
I smile and say, "Thank you, that's so kind of you to say."  
Paul comes over and sits next to me and asks me about our songs and our tour, but not in a pushing way like Olivia. He is sincere and kind and very sweet to me. **(Emma's POV)**  
I hear the gang come back and I guess it's time for me to come out of hiding. I will just try to avoid Scott for a little bit. I walk into the living room and am greeted by Kirstie who comes over to me and says, "You okay?"  
Smiling softly, I say, "Yea, I will be." I look around the living room and wonder who the new guys are. Kirstie introduces me to the group and says, "Matt, Paul, this is my cousin, Emma."  
Matt and Paul both wave and say hey.  
I smile and say, "Hi there."  
I just assume that they know someone here and head into the kitchen and get a drink. I go to the table where Avi is sitting. He looks over at me like a big brother would and says, "Em, you okay?"  
"Yes, Avi, thanks." I say.  
Avi and I start talking and he explains about Matt and Paul and the trouble they had with being locked out of their house. We then start talking about some random YouTube video and we both start laughing that I don't see Matt coming over and sitting next to me. He smiles at me and says, "I saw that, it was so funny!"  
I smile politely and say, "Yea, it is."  
Avi then asks about a different video and Matt talks about that one too. I look around the room and I see that Mitch is talking with Paul, Matt's brother, and they seem to be really into their conversation. I smile at that. Kirstie joins us at the table and sits next to Avi. Matt looks at his phone and says, "It shouldn't be too much longer, the locksmith said that he would call me when he arrived at the house. I can't thank y'all enough for letting us hang out while we wait."  
Avi smiled and said, "Anytime." **(Scott's POV)**  
I decide to head back upstairs as it's been a little while and I'm cooled off. I decide to talk to Emma. I step upstairs and am surprised by the additional guests and all of the laughter I hear. Mainly, all the laughter I hear from Emma. Wasn't she upset? I walk over to the table and see her, Avi, Kirstie, Kevin, and some guy sitting at the table laughing like it was going out of style or something. I say, "Hey guys."  
Emma looks at me as her laughter fades. I see that she's still hurt. Matt stands up and reaches out his hand and says, "Hi, you must be Scott, I'm Matt. I'm staying a couple of houses down. Over there, is my brother Paul."  
I shake his hand and look over to Paul who is in the living room talking with Mitch and wave. I see Paul smile and say, "Hi Scott!" I smile and sit down at the head of the table between Avi and Emma.  
Mitch and Paul come over to the table and Mitch announces that Paul and Matt will be staying for dinner.  
Avi says, "Great, new friends are always welcome!"  
Matt leaned over to Em and whispered, "I'm glad I can hang out longer."  
Did he think that I couldn't hear him? I sit there and feel this jealously come within me and I barely hold myself together.

**To Be Continued…**


	21. Final Chapter

**(Scott's POV)**  
I need to talk to Emma and get her away from Matt, who does he think he's flirting with, this is my girlfriend. I clear my throat and both Emma and Matt turn to me and I reach for Emma's hand and say, "Em, can we talk in private?"  
Matt looks at my hand on top of Emma's and gives me a confusing glance and I smile and say, "Matt, have you met my girlfriend, Emma?"  
Matt sits back in his chair with an understanding now and says, "Um, yeah, but I, didn't know that she was your girlfriend. That's, uh, great."  
Emma tilts her head over to me and gives me a look and I say, "What?"  
I squeeze her hand and say, "Please, can we go talk?"  
She gradually gets up and I hold her hand and I walk to my room. I feel eyes on us as we head into my room. We walk in and Emma lets go of my hand and walks over to the far chair by the window. I sit on my bed and face her.  
She looks at me with the same look she just gave me at the table and said, "What was that about? Introducing me to Matt as your girlfriend?"  
I smile and say, "He didn't seem to know that you were taken, so I told him."  
She laughs and says, "You acted like a jealous boyfriend?"  
I say, "I don't know, maybe. That's not what I want to talk about."  
We sit in silence for a long while before she looks at me and says, "What did you want to talk about Scott?"  
"I'm sorry about earlier, I'm sorry that I got mad," I say.  
"I'm sorry too, Scott. I don't want to hurt you, I really do like you," she says as she stands up and walks over to the bed and sits beside me.  
I put my arm around her and pull her in and hug her and she pulls away and turns to me and says, "Scott, you have to know something, okay."  
"What?" I ask.  
"I wanted to take some time to think about my decision because I feel that this is all happening so fast, my life has changed so much in the past week. But, know that no matter what I decide, it will not change the fact that I care so much about you. Needing more time isn't anything about us; it's about my school, my work, my life back at home. Leaving all of that is hard, but knowing that I would be around you, Kirstie, and everyone else, is the easy part. I would absolutely love to be with you all the time, you have to know that," she says as she leans in and gives me a hug.  
I pull in her close and say, "I guess I didn't really give you a chance to explain earlier."  
She leaned back and looked me in the face and said, "Are you still upset with me?"  
I shake my head and pull her in for a kiss. Our kiss turned into more as I pull her into my lap and we fall back onto my bed. She giggles and I pull her in closer. She says, "We should head back out."  
"We don't have too, we could just stay here," I say as I wrap my arms around her waist and lean towards her and kiss her again.  
She smiles and pulls herself away and stands up beside the bed looking down at me. She pulls me up and I stand next to her looking at her and I give her a flirtatious smile. She smiles and says, "Let's go, boyfriend."  
"Can you say that in front of Matt when we get out there, just want to make sure that he knows," I say laughing.  
"You are so crazy, he was not flirting with me at all," Emma says.  
"You just don't realize how beautiful you are, do you?"  
We walk into the living room and Mitch looks up and says, "Everything okay with you two?"  
I nod and say, "Yes."  
Mitch smiles back and walks over to us and says, "Good, I hate to see you two not talking, it's not fun for the rest of us, either."

**(Emma's POV)**  
I walk over to Kirstie and tell her that Scott and I made up and she smiled. She got up from the table and we both headed into the kitchen. We started looking for something to make for dinner and decide to just grill out hamburgers because it was easy. We thought that Avi would love to use the grill for the first time. Kirstie finally looks at me and says, "Any thoughts about the question I asked you?"  
"Yes, I thought a lot about it today," I say.  
"And, please tell me you will consider it, I would love to have you join us and I know someone else who would love to have you there as well," Kirstie says with a smile.  
I smile back and say, "I know, I would love to be there too, but what about school, my job?"  
"You could always work at the camp when we are not touring and you could take online courses," Kirstie said.  
"You have figured this all out, haven't you," I say.  
"Yes, I do, so please say yes," she says.  
I look at her and my decision is clear in my mind and I say, "Yes, I would love to be your assistant, Kirstie."  
Kirstie turns to the group and says, "Yay, we have a new Pentatonix crew member everyone!"  
I laugh because of how happy she is. Everyone cheers and comes into the kitchen to welcome me and Scott pulls me into a hug and whispers, "Thank you" into my ear and kisses me on my cheek.

_**(Epilogue)**_  
_**Three months later…**_  
Pentatonix is on tour in Europe again and Emma has been busier than ever balancing school work and helping Kirstie out. Emma and Scott are stronger than ever and spend as much time as they can together. Avi and Kirstie are still madly in love and it shows so clearly in the shows, they try their best to avoid questions about their close relationship, as they don't want it to affect the group at all. But, it's hard to hide their love for one another on stage and especially off stage, but they try their best. Mitch has continued talking with Paul and they have formed a very close friendship and are taking it one day at a time. Mitch speaks with Paul via Skype and texts him a lot. Kevin has thrown himself into some new songs and is looking forward to their next album being released.

_**(A/N: Thank you for reading and I hope that you have enjoyed this crazy little story. I will start a new story soon, but not sure when. : ) I felt that I took this story as far as I wanted it to go. I do always love happy endings. This was the first story I wrote in POV's as I normally write in 3rd person POV only. Thanks again and I look forward to sharing my future stories with you all.)**_


End file.
